Aaray Azkon
by Black-Angel-BR
Summary: My Aaray Azkon fanfics for SWTOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic). Former Mandalorian, Bounty Hunter, Zabrak. have fun :D
1. Impressing Pt 1

The Bounty Hunter Aaray walked into the room of the Salty Sarlaac cantina, her beading Zabrak eyes that you could see in pitch black staring into the room. "This better be worth my time" She thought, she had been called in by a man named Braden and his team, to be a contender in the Great Hunt, a fight for glory and riches in an all-out battle to take out targets and other contenders. The thing is, you need to show you;re worthy to be in it, and Braden and his team were gonna help her in. The Zabrak was growing impatient until Braden finally walked in along with a young cyborg woman and a male Nikto, Aaray had always liked how the reptilian species looked, as if they could snap you in half at any second. "Welcome girlie," said Braden, he was a tall middle aged man, but look like he could strike at any moment. "as you know, we're here to help you into the great hunt, as long as we get a cut from your prizes, now meet my team, this" he gestured towards the Nikto "Is Jory, he's here to help us sort out our plans throughout the Hunt," "Greetings, feel free to make us all incredibly famous and wealthy" Said the Nikto in a rather Jovial tone. Braden chuckled and gestured towards the perky-looking cyborg "This is Mako, she's our researcher and slicer, don't let her looks fool you, she could kill you with her hand tied behind her back, keep that in mind" "Don't exaggerate Braden. Hey, I'm Mako, nice to meet ya." she said happily. "Good to be here. So, what's the plan?" replied the Bounty Hunter.

"Get straight to the point eh? Good quality in a Bounty Hunter. Your sponsor will be Nem'ro the Hutt, a gangster here on Nal Hutta." Aaray moaned, she hated it here on Nal Hutta, all swamps, she prayed during the ship ride here she would only be here for this meeting, that dream had been crumpled up and spit out right now.

"So, how long do I have to stay in this muddy hellhole?" Asked the Hunter, growing more impatient by the minute. She had no intention of staying here any longer then she had to.

"Hey!" Aaray turned, it was the cyborg girl, Mako. "This place may not be the prettiest, and it definetly doesn't smell like flowers - especially with Jory around here - But it's home." Braden chuckled and Jory rolled his eyes in embarrassment, but Aaray was impressed. At first glance, Mako looked like a shy and quiet kind of girl, not able to stand up to anybody, yet alone a person with 3 top of the line blasters at her side. But once she spoke, you could she she was feisty and tense, the two women stared at each other, and Myshone got a better look at the girl. She was in a casual red suit and had her shoulder-length black hair back in a headband, and right next to her piercing blue eyes was her cybernetics, wrapped around her eyebrow. 'I've never seen cybernetics like that' thought Aaray. Braden broke the silence. "Alright, now, the Great Hunt is gonna be unpredictable, Mako is the biggest fan of hunting and even she's unsure on what goes on in there. Every winner of the Great Hunt has gotten eternal riches and fame. That's why we're here, what do ya say?" A grin spread across the Bounty Hunter's face. "Sounds good to me, so, what's our first move?" It was Mako who answered the call. "Here's what I know so far. The Great Hunt has two groups, the Mandalorian Elites, and freelance Bounty Hunters sponsored by influential Crime Lords. We obviously have no time to make you a Mandalorian, so looks like you're getting a sponsor."

Braden chuckled "Alright Mako I got it from here. Nem'ro the Hutt controls this stink pot, I have just enough expierience with that gangster to get you an introduction." "There's a but coming on I know it." Said Aaray unhappily. "And you were right." Said Braden in a very matter-of-fact tone. "Mako, search for Hutta's bounties, we need to get our friend the slimiest most untouchable criminal on this planet." Aaray gave Braden a confused look. "Why are you getting me bounties? I thought I was meeting Nem'ro." "You are, but we need to pass you off as a big-time Hunter, so you'll need to take down some of the most wanted criminals on Nal Hutta. While you do that, Mako'll spread rumours of your off world exploits on the Holo, and me and Jory can spread it to the gangsters on break in the cantinas." Aaray rubbed her chin. "I like it, I'm glad to have you guys as my team." "Hey Hey, you're making us ALL famous and wealthy, we should be thanking YOU! Soon everybody will know the name of -what's your full name kid?" Aaray groaned, her name was in a language she didn't understand. "Aaray Gra'tua Azkon." "Has a nice ring to it, sounds like Mando'a." Myshone knew it was Mando'a, she just didn't know what it meant. Her parents had been Mandalorians until they died when she was 12 in a battle against a rival clan. "Mako, how's it goin' there babygirl?" The cyborg look extremely happy in her search: "I found something, Corellian, name is Vexx. Champion quickdraw, and wanted for robbing a BUNCH of Imperial bays."

Jory snorted in amusement. "Ha! Out of all the places to get credits, why would someone rob an Imperial Bay?" Braden rolled his eyes. "Shut up Jory, you're helping us plan strategies not them." The former Hunter turned back towards Aaray. "This Vexx is either seriously stupid but lucky or is a very nice fighter. Either way, he's dangerous, a perfect target for you." Mako smiled. "According to the research i;ve found on the holonet, Vexx has a safe house in the bad part of Hutta, over on Fa'thraa's turf. Should be fun!" Braden laughed and explained the recent events of Nal Hutta to Aaray. "Nem'ro's rival Fa'thraa took over part of this planet. It;s seriously dangerous to be poking around in there, but that'll just make you look more badass. Raid Vexx's safehouse, and look all over for something that will help us find him. Be careful we don't know what's gonna be in there." A devious grin spread across Aaray's face. "Excuse me, I have a safehouse to go shoot up." Braden grabbed her shoulder. "Wow wow wow, wait a minute Aaray. In light of our new arrangement, I think we deserve a bit of fun in the cantina. You comin' Jory, Mako?" "You should know I never turn down a fresh shot of Coruscanti Ale Braden." replied the happy Nikto in Huttese. "Nah I'm good Braden, I have a couple of things I have to check up on the Holonet." Braden frowned at the cyborg girl, but quickly got back up. "Ok then. Come on Jory let's go; You comin' Aaray?" "As good as a drink sounds right now, I need a nap, mind if I stay Mako?" The other girl smiled. "Not at all."

After the men left for the cantina, Aaray couldn't get to sleep on the stiff couches in the room, so she decided to talk. "So, how'd you end up with Braden and Jory?" The girl obviously thought the Hunter was asleep, because she jumped and turned quickly. "Oh, he found me when I was 10 on Nar Shaddaa, I was living on the street after I ran away from my abusive parents when I was 8, surviving with my friend, after Braden took me away, I never saw him again." The Bounty Hunter frowned, she felt sorry for the girl. She knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. She quickly pushed the thought of the lost loved one away and focused on Mako. "I'm sorry Mako, you've had a rough life, I've heard stories of the Shadaa streets, not a good place to be. Anything I can do for you?" Mako smiled. "No, I'm ok, I'm in a better place here, I just hope my friend made it out ok. You seem like you would have quite a tale yourself, How did you end up as a Bounty Hunter?" Right as Aaray was about to speak, Braden came in lugging Jory behind him. "Poor guy had too much to drink, fell over a Twi'lek dancer on the way out. Better get him to bed." After lugging Jory into bed, the cyborg and the human sent Aaray off to get input on Vexx's location. "I'll be back before you can say Mandalorian Enclave." With that, the Bounty Hunter left.


	2. Impressing Pt 2

The young cyborg Mako was upset with her friends greatly. "But I don't wanna stay here! I wanna go out and do missions, explore -shoot things. My blaster aim is good, you know it! Anything is better then just sitting around with your and our protection. No offense big guy." Jory the Nikto put down his drink. "None taken child. You're young and crave adventure." He then took another sip of his ale and spoke again."Mako, I know you want to go, but you're just not ready yet. Braden is doing this to protect you, I hope you know that."

"Bu-" Aaray the Bounty Hunter walked back into the room.

"Hey!" Said Mako. "The hotshot's back. How'd ya do?"

"Vexx left a datapad in his no-longer-safe safehouse." replied the Zabrak. "Fantastic!" Replied the cyborg. "Hand it over, I can get into it and find out it's contents." "My my," Aaray turned, it was Jory. "You so much natural skill for someone your age. I am honored to have you in the Great Hunt. How old are you anyway?" Aaray groaned, she hated people asking her age because they always treated her like a kid. "26. What were you guys doing while I was gone?" A voice shocked Aaray, it came from the back of the room. "Same as me, taking care of all the boring details so you didn't have to." Aaray smiled. "You're a good man Braden!"

Mako lit up at the sight of Braden. "Hey Braden! How did the meeting with Nem'ro go? Is Aaray gonna see him?" "I set down the basic info, but we're hardly there. What have you got?"

"I cracked the datapad our friend here got from Vexx's safehouse. Check out this last entry." "Oh dear." Said the human, with an obviously worried tone in his voice. "Our lil friend Vexx here keep detailed records. He booked a shuttle ticket, we gotta move fast." He turned to Aaray. "Only the boldest and the bravest make it into the living hell that is the Great Hunt. Vexx is a bold target, a champion gunslinger and completely ruthless. So, are you able to take down Vexx all on your lonely?" A grin spread across the Bounty Hunter's face. "I've never been more ready." "Excellent!" Mako cut him off. "I have the location of Vexx's shuttle, I'll send the coordinates to your datapad." "Thanks Mako. Hey, I know we're not in yet, but we might as well be. I can't believe i'm saying this, but I couldn't have gotten here without your guys help, hugs for old time's sake?" Braden chuckled. "This isn;t the last time we'll see each other Aaray!" Then he gave the Zabrak a warm hug. "Don't die!" Said Jory. The Zabrak giggled. "Can do big guy."

Then Mako came over and gave her a hug. "Good luck, I say that as a friend not just as a partner." "I'll be back soon, stay safe guys." The Hunter then left the room, in search for Vexx the champion gunslinger.

"Well, I'm gonna stop by the cantina, you guys ok here?" Said Mako. "Don't worry about us little one. We'll be just fine." Said the Nikto, sitting in his chair and feet up on his desk. "Stay safe out there!" Said Braden, right as Mako headed out the door.

It was a cheerful place, the Salty Sarlaac. Always people laughing having a good time, nothing holding them down. 'If only I could be like that.' thought Mako. She didn't drink, she was never one for alcohol, but she just had to get away from Jory and Braden, get somewhere to think. 'I just wish they would let me out. Jory is right. I want adventure. They know I have good aim and I'd be just fine, so why do they keep me here? If I was able to live in the streets of Nar Shaddaa when I was 8 I don't see why I can;t go out on missions with Aaray. Braden said it himself, Vexx is dangerous, Aaray could need help.'

Meanwhile, over in the depth of Fa'thraa the Hutt's turf, Aaray found Vexx, preparing for takeoff. "Who are you? You comin' to try and kill Vexx? You better go now, Vexx gonna kill you hard if you try to kill Vexx!" Said the gunslinger. 'Oh great, an overly confident target.' thought Aaray. 'Talking in the 3rd person is gonna get annoying, just shoot him.' "Vexx is a champion gunslinger! Get that? C'mon say it with me! Champ-i-on! Do I need to say it AGAIN? Vexx is a CHAMPION quickdraw gunslinger! Vexx'll kill you!" Aaray rolled her eyes, five minutes with this doof and all she heard was the same thing over and over again. While the babbling went on, Aaray took a moment to study his appearence. He was short, black, human and skinny, but looked agile nonetheless. He had slicked back brown hair so it wouldn't get in his face during combat, 'Looks like he knows some tricks.' thought Aaray. "You;re gonna die! Just back away now!" yelled Vexx. 'UGH! Enough of this crap!' thought Aaray angrily. "Enough of this jibber-jabber! Time to die!" Aaray already had her blaster out and pointed at Vexx by the time he got his out. Aaray quickly shot the blaster out of his hand and ducked behind a crate while he recovered. After taking a deep breath, Aaray took a peek over the crate. Vexx was gone. 'CRAP! Fantastic, Braden gets me a great target and I thank him by-' "GAH!" yelled Vexx as he jumped on top of Aaray and pinned her down on the floor, Aaray tried to wrestle him off her but Vexx had the Zabrak pinned down hard. She finally wrestled her arm out and banged Vexx in the back of the head with her blaster and knocked him unconscious. Aaray pushed the unconscious Vexx off of her and took his ID tags, they read: "Vector "Vexx" Jukal, human, 32." She took the tags and thought of her victory. 'Well done Aaray, well done indeed. Wait- did I just say Jibber-jabber?' Aaray could feel her cheeks heat up as she blushed, not that it could be seen with her blood red skin. She then headed towards their base back to Jory, Braden, and Mako. Not knowing Mako was in a cantina, only a couple blocks down.

Mako sighed. "Time to go home I guess, Aaray'll be back any minute." she whispered to herself. She headed back to the base, to find Aaray over two lifeless bodies. Jory and Braden's bodies.

"Wha-what happened?!" yelled Mako at the Bounty Hunter. "Mako!" Aaray ran to hug her, but Mako pushed her away. "I was so worried, I came back and found Jory and Braden, I thought you were gone!" Mako just stared at the bodies in shock. "The old man, is he...?" Aaray said nothing and gave her friend a sympathetic look and reached for her shoulder. "NO! No, he, he can't be!" She rushed over to Braden's body and wept. Aaray knelt down to comfort her friend, trying to hold back tears herself. "Mako, I-, I'm sorry, Braden and Jory were good men." Mako pulled her face up and stopped crying, she then stood up and spun on Aaray, holding her wrist in anger. "YOU! You had something to do with this!" Aaray was shocked. "Mako, I wouldn't! You know that! Why would I do this?" Mako suddenly changed expressions, her face ridden with guilt.

"I- I'm sorry, I guess I just- I know you didn't have any reason to hurt him. I just can't believe he's gone, and-" Aaray put her hand up. "It's ok, I know what you mean." Mako then looked confused. "But, if you didn;t do this, then who did?" "Do you guys have security holo's? " Mako rushed over to the holoterminal. "Yes! How did I not think of that?! The holo's been tampered with, but I can fix it." A minute later a holo came up showing Braden, Jory, and two Mandalorians. "Move and you're dead." Said the holo version of Braden. "Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll turn around, and go back nice and slow." Then one of the Mandalorians spoke, the younger one. "Don't worry old man, I DO know what;s good for me, and that's winning the Great Hunt. When I win, not one person in the galaxy will EVER forget the name of Tarro Blood. And prices for my services will be as high as the Senate Tower am I right Sedyn?" The elder one, cyborg by the looks of it with a high mohawk and goatee spoke next. "Only Alderaanian lords will be able to afford you Tarro." Braden put a furious look on his face, fire burning in his eyes. "Tarro Blood? I've heard of you. Nearly got crippled by other Mandalorians in the Great Hunt 10 years ago, put on quite the show." Blood looked surprisingly calm and exceedingly confident. "Ah, yes. An unfortunate bit of history that won't be repeated. This time I shall win, and nobody will even remember that little event. Which will be so much easier if I could just get rid of those rat-faced Boutny Hunters, and only have fellow Mandalorians as my competition. Let's go over the list shall we? The Chiss droid builder fond of explosives? Gone. Twi'lek Vibroblade master? Gone. That jsut leaves your little protege old man." Jory had never been so angry, and you could see it in his eyes he was about ot shoot to kill. "Then your quest has failed! Aaray is not here, and now your plan is revealed!" Tarro had a evil grin on his tattooed face. "You misunderstand, hardly unpredicted from a dim-witted alien such as yourself. The rules prevent contenders from killing other contenders before the Great Hunt starts. I simply eliminated them as threats, and how does one stop a charging gundark, any ideas, Sedyn?" "Blast his legs out from under him, and he can't get you." "Exactly." Replied the devious Mandalorian. "Destroy the Hunter's crew, and I'll be outside, assumingly unaware." Blood's figure then left the room. Braden was quick on his feet, but not quick enough. "Jory! Open fire!" But Sedyn already had his blaster out and shot them both.

Aaray heard Mako sniffle and went to comfort her. "That scum." She said softly. "He didn't even have the courage to kill them. He had his cohort do it! The cowardly bastard." She then walked across the room and Aaray followed. Mako put her hands on her hips. "He claimed he was Tarro Blood. He's a big shot even for a Mandalorian. When Blood started out ten years ago, he was HUGE news. Rumor is everybody united against him when he entered the Great Hunt." "So know he's making sure the cards are played in his favor." replied the Zabrak.

"If what he said was true, he's already 'partied' with some of the other competitors. He barely escaped being disqualified from the Hunt last time, he was out on his back for a LONG time." She bent down and search Jory's body. "Blood;s determined to win the Great Hunt, our best bet is to get you into that competition." "If it means finding Braden and Jory's killer, i'll tear apart the whole galaxy." said Aaray. "I appreciate that alot. Braden was practically my father. He didn't deserve this at ALL. Neither did sarcastic, greedy little Jory. There's one issue though, Braden spent all our credits getting us here. We're stuck on this damn planet. We need Nem'ro, he;'s the only Crime Boss on this stink pot with enough popularity to get you into the Great Hunt. If... Nobody knows about Braden... I might be able to get you a meeting with Nem'ro." Aaray hugged her friend. "It'll be alright. I promise. Look." She handed her Vexx's ID tags. "Take the tags. It'll be enough for two proper burials." "I- I don't know what to say. You don;t have to do that." "Braden and Jory were friends, and good men, they deserve it." "I-, thank you. I really appreciate that. I'll find a good spot as ever on this stinkpot of a planet. We're gonna have to impress Nem'ro even more now. His enemies are floating all around Hutta, take down some leaders, and you'll score big points with the Hutt." "Can do. Come on, I think you need a drink." Mako smiled faintly and briefly, and the two walked off to the cantina.


	3. Dance The Night Away

The cup slammed down hard onto the counter. "Another please." Said young cyborg Mako.

Aaray the Bounty Hunter chuckled. "That;s your third drink Mako! All you were saying on the way down here was that you didn't drink!" Mako sighed. "Just stressed I guess. I mean, before we found... the guys, I was here to think, and everybody was so free. So lively." Aaray nodded in agreement, the Bounty Hunter had always loved cantinas; you could let loose, forget your problems, have a good drink, lost every credit you had on one sabaac game and then blow what you hate left on entertainment.

"Well," Said Aaray finally. "with six drinks between the two of us, I'll bet my lucky blaster it isn't what we can afford." The Zabrak turned towards the counter. "Hey! Bill!" A Mon Calamari bartender cam over and slipped them the bill, both women's eyes popped when they saw the price. "120 CREDITS?!" they both said simultaneously. Mako put her hands up to her face. "Oh my god! As if enough hadn't happened to us today, just wanted to come down here and cheer up a bit about Braden and Jory and... ugh. I guess they don't lie when they say the price of happiness isn't cheap." "Calm down Mako, it'll be ok. Lemme try this." She called the bartender once again. "You got ma' credits?" Said the Mon Calamari.

"Actually," replied Aaray. "I wanted to get to know you. You got a name handsome?" The bartender smiled. "Twal Tuno, and what's your name beautiful?" Aaray smiled, her plan was working. "Aaray Azkon. Say Twal, we're about 100 credits short." She put on her flirtiest face and subtly elbowed Mako to do the same. "Can you help us out?" Twal frowned, this had been pulled on him many times.

"Sure sweetie. I'll lower the price. To 119!" The bartender laughed and the girls sighed. "I can't do that." he continued. "But I will tell ya this. Couple o' dancers quit the other day and we're looking for new ones." Mako groaned and Aaray raised an eyebrow. "1: How much does it pay? 2: Do we get to keep tips? 3: What's in it for you?" Twal had a big grin on his face, the ladies were giving him quite the show. "1: 10 credits per dance. 2: Normally no, but I can pull some strings for 15% of your tips. 3: Well I get to see you two perty ladies in dancer outfits o' course!" Mako had had enough. "No. No way! No way in hell I'm dressing up and dancing for pervy gangsters!" Twal gave Aaray a look. "Um," said Aaray. "Please give me a moment to talk with my friend Twal?" The Mon Calamari nodded. "Can do. Take your time, I got a customer." Twal then turned to consult with the customer while Aaray dragged Mako into the corner.

"What are you doing?" yelled the Zabrak. Mako gave Aaray an 'I can't believe you' look. "What? You're actually considering this?" "We don't have much of a choice Mako! I don't wanna do this anymore then you do, but it's either take this job and stay innocent and get paid. OR, get sent to prison and probably end up doing the same thing as slaves for Nem'ro! And I don't particuarly think that will make him wanna sponsor us into the Great Hunt!" Mako sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. Just, the last time I did this it was awful." Realizing what she said as Aaray raised an eyebrow, Mako quickly changed the subject. "If only Jory was here. He had the odd ability to poof of credits in time like this." The Bounty Hunter hugged her friend. "It'll be ok. I miss them too."

The cyborg straightened herself up. "Let's do this." she said. They then returned to the counter and told Twal Tuno they'd take the job. "Ok girlie's." He then dissapeared into a room and returned with a blue dancer's outfit for Aaray and a pink one for Mako.

"You can change in the back." Said Twal. "But, I'll need your weapons. Don't worry. They'll be safe with me, Calamari's honor." Mako handed over her blasters and Aaray handed over hers, all except for one. Twal gave her a confused look. "Sorry Twal, sentimental reasons." Twal nodded. "Can do. Just make sure nobody sees it." He then pointed them into the back room and walked away.

As the girls changed in the backroom, Aaray had to bite. "So, what was that you said earlier about being a dancer?" She could hear her friend moan. "Me and my big mouth." she replied. "I'll tell you about that if you tell me about your 'lucky blaster' that you had to keep for 'sentimental reasons'" "Oh fine. But you first!" "Ok, Ok! Don't shoot me! One night, Jory and Braden lost every credit we had on a couple sabaac games. So I was stuck dancing to slimy perverts until we earned it back." Aaray laughed. "Good ol' Braden and Jory!" The women had finished dressing and now were jsut sitting on crates. "Ok, your turn!" "Ugh, fine! My parents were Mandalorians, and when I was 12, my dad gave me my first blaster. A month later, he died. He was killed by a member from a rival clan, he died by flamethrower. My mom died a few months later by flamethrower also, and from the same clan. So I named the blaster Flame. Then I was taken in by my aunt and uncle. It was hard ot convince then to take us, because my best friend, Miato, had been living with us since HER parents died. We had been best friend for the longest time, and when her parents died, my parents legally adopted her. My aunt and uncle didn't like Miato, but always fawned over me, so they took us in." Mako was in awe. Aaray had her scars just as she had hers. "Where is Miato now?" Twal then knocked on the door. "Come on girlie;s we got customers waitin'!" Aaray turned towards Mako. "Come on, let's go dance the night away."


	4. Loose Errands

The Bounty Hunter Aaray walked into the back room of the Nexus Room cantina where Nem'ro the Hutt rested.

It was a rough spot, people were getting arrested from everything from cheating at Sabaac to just making a joke at Nem'ro's expense.

As Aaray approached Nem'ro, she could hear the Houk next to him insult her. "Look Boss, little woman come to beg for mighty Nem'ro's attention!" "Shut up Carnus!" replied the Hutt. "This 'little woman' is the Bounty Hunter who's been sweeping the scum from my streets.." Nem'ro turned to Aaray. "Pardon him, what he lacks in manners he makes up for in size. You are in the presence of Nem'ro the Hutt. Everything you see in Jigunna belongs to mine." Aaray smirked, roughly 10 minutes with Nem'ro and she had already found his weakness.

The Hutt then spoke again. "Mako says you're a famous bounty hunter from off-world. But I've never heard of you, and Mako says alot of things." This set the Zabrak into an uneased tone. "If Mako's ever lied i'm a Jedi you worm!" Nem'ro roared with laughter at the comment. "If I wasn't in such a good mood, you'd be 'escorted' out by Carnus here bounty hunter! So, tell me, why should I sponsor you?" Aaray laughed. "You simply won't find anyone better!" The Zabrak tensed, she felt as if she were being watched. Carnus smacked her back into focus. "Ha! We'll see about that!" laughed the Houk. Nam'ro gave Carnus a fierce look. "Don't you remember what happens when you interfere Carnus...?" The crime lord raised a remote and the Houk raised his hands up in fear. "Wait! No please! ACH..." Carnus fell to the floor and Nem'ro laughed. "Shock collar. Handy in my buisness." Aaray laughed as Carnus rised to his feet. "I thought Houks could take a punch!" Carnus rolled his eyes and Nem'ro roared. "You got spike, bounty hunter, insulting a Houk! I like that! But you still need to prove you're worthy." Aaray frowned, between Carnus pestering her at every chance and now learning that all the bounties she took out only gave her the ability to speak with Nem'ro, she was getting annoyed.

"I have some... errands to be done." said Nem'ro. "You're going to do them, Zabrak." "Fair enough." replied Aaray. Nem'ro smiled. He'd be getting his chores done, and if he chose to sponsor Aaray, glory. "Evocii. Nal Hutta's native species, are rebelling against me. I want you to kill their leader, Huttsbane. I want his head on my floor! He's deep into the swamp and protected, so you'll have to kill some Evocii to get to him, you don't have a soft spot for those filthy creatures do you?"

Aaray sighed softly, she didn't like killing unless she had to, there was always a chance they had a family like she did.

"No. Send the coordinates to my datapad, my number is 12345." She turned to Carnus. "Not a word about that number, Houk." Carnus chuckled. 'Amazing, I have the same combination on my cargo hold!' thought the Houk.

"Ok." said Aaray. "I'll head to Huttsbane now, wish me luck!" "You're gonna need it." the Hutt and the Zabrak heard Carnus mutter under his breath. "Carnus!" roared Nem'ro as he raised the remote to the shock collar. Both Aaray and Carnus put their hands up, Carnus for fear and Aaray to stop Nem'ro. "Wait wait!" yelled Aaray. Nem'ro looked at her in confusion. "May I?" Aaray said with a smile. Nem'ro chuckled and handed her the remote. Carnus screamed as the shock collar did it's job. "Let that be a lesson to obey your boss, Carnus." said the Zabrak. Nem'ro roared with laughter. "I'm gonna have fun with you, Bounty Hunter!"

Carnus raised to his feet. "Ugh... when you have that filthy Huttsbane's head, speak with Juda. She pay you." Aaray nodded. "Appreciated." The Zabrak left the room, with her trigger-finger ready and an eagerness waiting to be quenched.


	5. Loose Errands Pt 2

"Murderer! Filthy murderer! You slaughter the people of this village only to reach me! Will you kill all the women and children as well?!" Aaray rolled her eyes. "No, just you." she said. "Halt." said a voice. Aaray turned, another Evocii approached them from the corner. Aaray's brows furrowed. How has she not seen him before? "This does not have to end in bloodshed. Let us solve this in a calm and peaceful manner." said the mysterious Evocii.

"Save your breath spirit healer." replied Huttsbane. The two Evocii were an odd sight, the spirit healer wore a long yellow robe, a plaid orange and brown plaid scarf around his shoulders and chest, and a vibroblade on his back. Huttsbane had a white eyepatch on his left eye along with the same scarf as the spirit healer. "This brute is going to kill us and all that we love!" yelled Huttsbane.

The spirit healer turned to Aaray. "Is this true, young one?" "Didn't you hear anything while you were in the corner?" replied the Zabrak, growing more confused by the minute. "No. I was meditating. It clears the conscience and frees the soul. Now, is it true?" Aaray shook her head. "Of course not!" she yelled, a little too loudly. "I need his head." she gestured towards Huttsbane. "I don't want to hurt your people. A man cheated me out and killed my friends so he could win a competition, killing eyepatch here will get me into that competition so I can get revenge." The spirit healer let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. "I do not approve of your idea of revenge young one, but if it will spare the good people of this village, we have no choice." He turned to Huttsbane. "Huttsbane, dear friend, if you wish to continue the rebellion of this village, you will sacrifice yourself." Before Aaray could tell the two Evocii that she had no intention of hurting any of their people, Huttsbane started yelling. "No! Nal Hutta was ours until the Hutts took it from us! I will NOT give them the pleasure of my death! We WILL take back Nal Hutta!" Aaray rolled her eyes. 'They wonder why Nal Hutta was taken from them so easily, over confident much?' she thought. The spirit healer let out a heavy sigh. "Then I'm sorry my friend, you leave me no choice." With that, he took out his vibroblade, and stabbed Huttsbane.

Aaray looked up at the Evocii in shock and awe. "These people must survive. Even if we lose the fight to take back Nal Hutta, this village must stand strong. Nal Hutta has become a rough place to live for Evocii, they have nowhere else to go." He knelt down and took a ring off of Huttsbane's finger. He then rised, grabbed Aaray's wrist, opened her fist, and placed the ring on her palm. "Take it. A trophy." said the spirit healer. "Wh-why?" replied Aaray, still in shock and confusion. "Because you are different from the others. You do not kill simply for the pleasure of killing. You do not find us revolting just because we look the way we do. You are a diamond in the rough." The Zabrak simply nodded, she didn't know what to say. "Go." said the spirit healer. "Take his head." He handed her a hunting knife.

Aaray knelt down and put on the gloves she brought with her, then started the process of decapitating the corpse. It was a gruesome process, blood splattering all over Aaray. 'Thank the stars I'm not afraid of blood.' thought Aaray. 'Doesn't look like the spirit healers doing all that well though.' It was true, by the look on his face you could tell he was having a hard time keeping himself sewn together. After several minutes the process was done and Aaray put the head in a sack and headed out the door. "Hunter." called the Evocii as Aaray was just out the door.

Aaray turned to face him. He bowed to the bounty hunter and gave her a solemn look. "I hope you avenge your friends." "Thank you." whispered Aaray in response. As the Spirit healer turned away, it was her turn to call him. "Spirit healer?" "Hmm?" "When you came out, you said meditation clears the conscience, dare I ask what you need clearing of?" He gave Aaray a solemn look. "Huttsbane is not the only to bloody this weapon young one."

Aaray nodded and fled the village.

At a taxi, Aaray looked down at the ring the spirit healer had given her. It was gold, with a blood red diamond in the middle. It made her curious. "Destination?" said the taxi droid. "Nem'ro's palace. Hurry." "Will do master. I shall set the coordinates and your taxi will automatically take you there." "Thank you." replied Aaray.

Dozens of thoughts mixing through her head during the taxi ride, Aaray just sort of drifted off. Until her holocom buzzed at her pant pocket. "Come on..." grunted the Zabrak. She finally pulled the holocom out of her pocket and turned it on. "Hey girl," said a holographic Mako.

"Hey Mako, im on a speeder to Nem'ro's, so I may be spotty." replied Aaray. "Oh. I'll make this quick then." said the cyborg. "I dug up everything I could on Tarro Blood, after he was disqualified, he was the talk of the galaxy. Everybody was talking about him, no Mandalorian in their right mind would stay away from him so their honor wouldn't be stained." "Wow, that bad?"

"Yeah, insane right? Anyway, he told lies saying that he had reasons for cheating." Aaray smirked and couldn't help but chuckle. "You mean like, I don't know... winning?" Mako laughed. "Besides that, he claimed he did it for romantic reasons." Aaray's eyes widened. "What woman would have a romantic relationship with him?"

"Guess for his looks, then she saw what he was like. Blood claimed that he entered the Great Hunt to impress his ex-lover and win her back, so he cheated to assure his victory." "Think she was impressed?" joked Aaray. "Very funny. He said her name was Thendys Nooris, and no one's heard of her." Aaray's brows furrowed, Tarro was just getting weirder and weirder. "I MAY be crazy, but after he cheated and whatever caused them to break up, I'm not sure entering the Hunt again and doing the same thing would impress her." Mako shrugged.

"Guess he wanted to regain his honor or something." "I don't know what else it'd be." replied the Zabrak. "By the way, what was that you said about you guessing Nooris would go for him because of his looks?" Aaray said with a grin. "I- Ugh I hate you. As much as I hate the guy, can't deny is not bad to look at." "Ah, kiss and kill for you?"

The slicer quickly changed the subject as she saw a grin spread across Aaray's face." I forgot to tell you, I was walking around today, and I found this bone faced creep following me around." "Hmmmm, Kaleesh?" "I guess." "I've had some green rodian girl following me around too..." "Weird, think they're together?" asked the slicer. "I don't think so, best keep an eye out though." "Will do. Oh, I found a place to bury, um, Braden and Jory. I know you'd probably want to relax, and I'm sorry, but I was thinking that if Nem'ro lets you have a breather we could bury them later." Aaray gave her friend a solemn look. "Of course, I Braden and Jory are a little more important then me being able to sit around in the cantina keeping up on the latest Nal Hutta gossip." Mako smiled. but the smile only stayed a moment as it changed to a look that purely said 'Oh my gosh!'. "I forgot!" she explained. "I found out something about Nem'ro, apparently-" The holo fizzled. "Apparently-"said a very hard-to-understand Mako. The screen fixxled again, then went dead. Aaray swore fiercely, one of her biggest pet peeves was this, losing connection in the middle of a conversation.

She spent the rest of the ride thinking about Huttbane's ring and the spirit healer. The spirit healer had called her a diamond in the rough. 'Suppose he means from gangsters.' thought Aaray, for she didn't see how she could be special in any way. About twenty minutes after the disconnection with Mako, Aaray reached Nem'ro's palace. The Zabrak headed toward the back to Nem'ro's spot, but was halted by a Mon Calamari. "Aaray... I wanted to talk to ya..." Aaray turned, it was her boss, Twal Tuno. 'Dammit!' thought Aaray.'It's already hard enough finding a spot for me and Mako to sleep at night, then there's Nem'ro and the sponsorship, and on top of all that crap we have to dance for pervy gangsters just to get a meal down our throats until Nem'ro pays for it when he sponsors me. I don't know why we even need a place to sleep at night, we never get to sleep!'

"Yeah, Twal?" said Aaray, finding it diffucult to keep the annoyance out of her voice. It wasn't that she didn't like Twal, he was a good guy, it was the job she hated. "I got a load o' customers bookin' dancers this evenin', I wanted to confirm you and Mako'll be comin' t'nite."

'CRAP!' thought Aaray, thanking her skin was red so her anger wouldn't show. 'I forgot it was a work night! I'm busy doing Nem'ro's 'errands'!' "Yeah, uh, give me a minute to make sure Mako's alright with it." She then ran off into the corner and turned on the holocom. A holographic Mako popped up only moments later. "What's up?" asked the cyborg. "Mako," said Aaray. "Twal has alot of people booking dancers, but I have Nem'ro and the sponsorship to take care of, can you handle it?" Mako groaned. "Fine." "Hey Mako, where'd ya go girl?!" yelled a voice. Aaray couldnt help a smug smile. "Couldn't have Tarro so you settle for him eh?" Mako frowned.

"Ugh, I'm never going to live that down...Fine, I was doing a little flirting, I'm sorry I feel so bad. You're out there risking your neck and i'm sitting here on my ass-" "Mako, Mako, it's ok. You're stressed, flirt a little, it's ok." "You sure?" "If it wasn't I'd say." Without waiting for a response, she clicked off the holocom. Aaray ran back, told Twal that Mako would be there, and headed off to Nem'ro.

"The mighty Huttsbane's head on my floor!" roared Nem'ro. "That will teach people not to mess with Nem'ro the Hutt! I must admit bounty hunter, I had not expected you to succeed as well as you did." Aaray grinned. She loved it when she outdid herself, especially when her client underestimated her. "Never expect anything but the best from me." she replied.

"I'll remember you saying that for the first time you fail." snapped the Hutt. "Now, your next target is a man named Yalt, he was a worker of mine until he betrayed me and went to work for Fa'athra. I want you to-" "Lemme guess." said Aaray. "His head. On the floor. Right?" Nem'ro roared with laughter and Carnus smirked. "You know me so well bounty hunter!" laughed the Hutt. "Yes. I want his head on the floor. But not mine." Aaray's brows furrowed. "Then who's?" she replied. "Yalt's wife works in the cantina. I want you to take Yalt's head to her." Aaray gave Nem'ro a fierce look with her piercing orange Zabrak eyes. "That's not what I do Nem'ro!" she said, perhaps too loudly. "No, it's not." explained Nem'ro. "But it's what you will do. If you want me to sponsor you, that is." Aaray moaned.

She really didn't want to do this.

Aaray only spoke when spoken to the rest of the conversation. She was relieved beyond belief when it was over. She practically ran for the door just so she could trudge through the swamp, fiend off Fa'athra's thugs and get this over with.

"Wait." said a husky voice. Aaray turned. It was Carnus, looking up at Nem'ro. "Permission to speak, master?" "Granted." replied the Hutt. Carnus turned back to the Zabrak. "Bounty hunter -Aaray, correct?- I underestimated you. You outdid yourself, I should not have said the things I said before. I applaud you." Aaray blinked. Then simply stared. She had never seen a Houk with manners... or good grammar.

"I hate to break up the lovebirds, but Aaray had to go retrieve a traitor's head." said Nem'ro, breakig Aaray's thoughts. Both she and Carnus rolled their eyes in annoyance and the cheeziness of Nem'ro. "Collect your pay for Huttsbane's bounty from Juda on the way out." explained Carnus. "Appreciated." replied the Zabrak. 'Things just keep getting weirder on Nal Hutta, it makes me hate it even more, and I didn't think that was possible.' thought Aaray as she headed out.

"Here you go. One-hundred fifty credits for the bounty of Huttsbane." said Juda. 'She's quite a perky twi'lek.I've never seen a slave so joyful' thought Aaray. It was true, Juda was an awfully bubbly person. "I heard some healer ran from the house they found Huttsbane's body in. He ran out shortly after you did, weird huh?" explained the twi'lek. "Where did he run to?" asked Aaray, growing worried. Juda shrugged. "Nobody knows. But my guess is he ran because he couldn't face the people. Because he couldn't help Huttsbane. Coward." Juda shook her head in dissaproval, her spotted green lekku swinging back and forth. "He wasn't in the house with you, was he?" asked Juda. "No, of course not." replied th Zabrak, perhaps too quickly. Juda raised an eyebrow.

Yes, too quickly.

Aaray sighed. "Can I trust you?" Juda nodded suspiciously. "Ok." said Aaray. "He was in the house, he was meditating or something. I killed Huttsbane and ran out, he creeped me out so I just stayed away." lied the Zabrak. She touched her curious ring, wondering why the spirit healer would have run away. "Well," replied the Twi'lek. "That explains why he would run away, if you snuck out and nobody saw you, all signs would point to him." Aaray nodded.'It says alot I lie this well from practice.' she thought."Well, I have to go." said the Zabrak. "Good luck!"she head Juda yell to her. 'Come on, it's gonna be a long day.' thought Aaray as she trudged out into the swamp.


	6. Loose Errands Pt 3

'By the stars, whoever that is they sure are hitting them hard...' thought an elderly cyborg named Yalt while hiding behind a crate in his warehouse. He shuffled further into the corner as more blaster shots fired just outside the door. The sound of blaster fire and groaning was becoming too much for him. 'It's Nem'ro, he's sent someone to kill me.' thought the cyborg. 'But Fa'athra offered me so many credits...' It was true, Yalt used to work for Nem'ro the Hutt, Fa'athra the Hutt's rival. Fa'athra managed to put spies -very few- and the spy thought Fa'athra could use Yalt, and Fa'athra offered him double the credits Nem'ro was paying. Sine, Yalt has been expecting Nem'ro to send someone to kill him. Yalt tensed, the blaster fire had stopped and he could hear someone's boots crunching on the dirt, the sound growing louder as they neared closer. Yalt looked over the crate, and a moment later a young woman entered the room. She scanned the room with her eyes and found Yalt. "Oh, hello."

Aaray's boots kicked the dirt as she walked across Fa'athra's small base. There were dead bodies littered everywhere, and no sign of the killer. Aaray took out her blaster, ready to shoot. The Zabrak looked around, blaster pointed in the same direction as her eyes. "Please..." said a voice. Aaray turned to the direction she heard the voice.

It was coming from behind a large wooden box busting to the brim with rations. Twenty-five yards away, Aaray ran over as fast as she could and pushed away the crate. She gasped, the man's nose was bleeding, and two blaster shots in the stomach and one in the leg, even worse, the man was the spirit healer.

"Please... please don't kill me... I don't want to die!" begged Yalt. The woman had him kneel down in front of her and now had a blaster at his head."Don't worry old man, I'll make it quick." she said. "But not now, right now i'd rather have you live in fear." The woman cackled. Yalt took a moment to look at his cause of death. The Rodian was short, green, and petite.

More like an alien-next-door then a killer, but once she had a weapon at her side, you could see she was skilled and not afraid to use it."With Nem'ro's bounty on you, not only will I get paid well, but I'll have a shot into the Great Hunt!" she explained. "Not to mention the off-world bounty on that Zabrak bitch!" she cackled. Yalt just stared in fear with his cybernetic eyes. After several minutes, Yalt finally realized the only way to live was to run for it.

The Rodian conducted many tortures before Yalt found out a way to get out. She ripped off three of his fingernails with pliers, used duct tape and ripped off one of his eyebrows, and other gruesome things. Yalt was weak now, his old heart couldn't take one more torture, but thankfully the Rodian decided to stop. She had spotted a box full of rations. "Ah, all this torturing has made me hungry." She then walked off to the box, on the other side of the room. She had tied up Yalt's hands, but not his feet.

He slowly and painfully crawled toward the door, with the stunning simularity of an inchworm. The door was mostly closed. Yalt checked to see if she was still at the box, she was still digging through it looking for something to eat, her back toward him. The cyborg got up on his knees and reached up for the doorknob, reached it and turned it. He was free. He slowly swung the door open, and it made a small squeak. Yalt tensed and turned quickly to see if she heard him.

She did.

The Rodian was on the cyborg faster then Yalt could even blink. She pushed him and threw him onto the floor. She took out a blaster and put it to his head. "You shouldn't of done that."

"Spirit healer..." was all Aaray could mutter. She gripped his hand, slowly pulled out the bullets, and used her entire jar of kolto gel. Nothing worked, she gave him CPR, and he revived. "Young one-" he coughed, and spit up blood. "Rodian...""What Rodian?" "I am Force Sensitive, I watched you, made sure you were safe. I heard you... while on your speeder ride... the Rodian...I found her... saw that she was coming here... wanted to stop her. She did this to me. Young one... she is here. She is working with a Mandalorian...I don't know the name... beware..." His body then went weak and his head fell back. Aaray felt his pulse, it was gone. She pulled down his eyelids, and laid his body down. 'Tarro. Tarro's sent a stalker after me, and the stalker killed my friend. That man WILL die.' thought the Zabrak.

Lost in her thoughts, she thought of the multiple ways to end Tarro's life, until she heard a door slam. She grabbed her blaster and turned in a flash. The slammed door came from an old warehouse around two-hundred fifty yards away. She ran for it, blaster out. 'She'll pay for this.' she thought, by now she had forgot about Yalt, and Nem'ro, and everything. She wanted blood. Tarro's blood. She slowed as she reached the warehouse. The Zabrak heard voices, on harsh the other weak. "You're going to regret that, Yalt." said a harsh voice. 'SHIT!' thought Aaray. 'I forgot about Yalt!' "Please, havn't you tortured me enough?" replied Yalt, obviously in pain. 'She is so dead.'

"I'm going to use the worst torture on you old man, but not enough to kill you, just enough to let you live and wallow in your misery. Heh, won't that-" "You know, it's very rude to disrespect the elderly." said a voice. said a voice. The Rodian turned, to see a Zabrak woman at the doorway, blaster pointed at her. "Ha, dreadfully sorry." replied the Rodian.

"What's your name?" asked the Zabrak. "Kimsi, not that you have any right to know." she snapped in reply. "Aaray," replied the Zabrak. "Nice to finally meet my stalker." Blaster still pointed at Kimsi, Aaray walked over to Yalt, and saw how bad his wounds really were. "What the hell did you do to him?" she snapped at the Rodian. Kimsi laughed. "Go ahead old man, tell her about my generous hospitality!" Yalt simply shivered and stared at Aaray.

"Tell her!" yelled Kimsi. She kicked Yalt and he moaned with pain. "Sh-she ripped off two of my fingernails with pliers, took off one of my eyebrows with duct tape, singed my hair with a blowtorch and other things I can't even describe." Aaray was almost positive her jaw dropped slightly. She knelt down and looked into the man's cybernetic eyes. "It'll be ok, I'm here to help." A small smile creeped onto Yalt's face. 'It's not entirely true, but I've been racking my brain on how to do this without killing him anyway.' thought the Zabrak.

"You're not helping anybody." said Kimsi. Yalt's smile dissapeared. "Wanna bet?" said Aaray sarcastically. "Nah, my mother taught me to never gamble. Although, considering you'd challenge me on, looks like Tarro was right about you being crazy."Aaray threw her a fierce look. "Tarro can go to hell." she snapped. "This one time, I'll kill for free." Kimsi chuckled. "You'll try." "Yalt! Get back!" Aaray kicked the man as soft as she could and pushed a crate in front of him for cover.

Aaray took cover behind a crate of her own. 'Why are there so many damn crates here?!' she thought. Aarat shot at Kimsi, who swung to the side. "Ha, for your reputation, I thought you'd have better aim Azkon!" she laughed. "You haven't seent he half of me." replied the Zabrak."Why don't you use those big eyes and actually try to hit me?" Aaray felt a breeze and heard a buzzing sound by her ear. A blaster bullet has hit her hair. "OOPS. Sorry!" said Kimsi sarcastically."You really have to learn you place, Rodian." Aaray cocked Flame once again, and headed for Kimsi.

The Zabrak felt confident, that is until she tripped over yet another god damn crate. Kimsi roared with laughter."Oh, yes! I've definetly learned my lesson now!" sh laughed. Aaray just ignored her, rised her feet, and lifted the wooden crate above her head. "I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE FUCKING CRATES!" she yelled. With that, Aaray smashed the wooden crate hard on Kimsi's head, the crate breaking apart as it connected with the Rodian's head. Kimsi fell to the floor. "AH!" You ass hole!" she snapped. Kimsi reached for her blaster and pointed it at Aaray. The Zabrak simply shot the blaster and it knocked out of Kimsi's hand. Aaray knelt down so she could look to her eye to eye. "You're a slow learner." was all she said. Kimi chuckled. "Just. Die." said the Rodian. She then took out a vibroknife rom her pocker and stabbed Aaray right above the heart.

Aaray could feel the knife go through her flesh as if it were a giant bee sting. "Nice, you're actually doing what you were told." she heard Kimsi say. She then fell unconscious.

Aaray saw a bright light, and saw a dark figure at the end of the figure spoke, in the voice of the spirit healer. "It's not your time." it said.

Aaray awoke with a start. She was alive, barely, but alive. Everything looked blurry, the Zabrak felt faint still. She saw Kimsi head towards Yalt and she knew she had to keep fighting. She couldn't die like this, killed by Tarro's hired gun. She had to live. For Yalt. For the spirit healer. For Mako, she promised her they' kill Tarro together. Aaray wwanted to fulfill that promise more then ever.

She creeped over to Flame ad grabbed it. She thought of her parents, every night since they died, she swore to herself every night she would find the bastard that killed them and avenge them. She lifted the blaser weakly. "Now to take care of you!" snapped Kimsi towards Yalt. 'My time has come. I love you Vinieta. Rest in peace my Zabrak friend, and thank you for trying to save my old heart.' thought the cyborg. Aaray coked flame, just as Kimsi was about to pull the trigger on Yalt. Kimsi turned. "Are you till trying to win? You call me a slow learner." Yalt's jaw dropped. He had thought her dead. "Sigh. One pest at a time." said the Rodian. With that, she put the blaster to the bottom of Yalt's chin. "Sorry old man, wait, not really." Kimsi pulled the trigger, and a moment later Yalt's head fell back, exposing the bleeding bullet hole under his chin. "No!" Aaray managed to moan. Kimsi laughed. "Your turn." She walked over and knelt down in front o the Zabrak lying on the floor; then plucked Flame from her hands. "I think I'd have more satisfaction to kill you with your own blaster." she said. She cocked Flame and raised it to Aaray's chin. Th Zabrak raised her right arm weakly, and ripped the vibroknife from where Kimsi had stabbed her. Seeing what she was doing, Kimsi shot Aaray's left arm. Aaray twitched, but didn't stop. The Bounty Hunter lifted the vibroknife and stabbed Kimsi in the stomach. "Don't touch my father's blaster." said Aaray. Aaray was able to take Flame from the dead Rodian's hand and put it back in her sheath. "That's for killing my friend you bitch." she said. Aaray fell unconscious, but this time, she didn't wake up.

She was revived.

Aaray awoke in a kolto tank, in a room she didn't waded around in the tank, she then spotted a man polishing a blaster in one corner of the room Aaray knocked on the glass of the kolto tank. The man turned, and saw her. He waltzed over to the tank and set her free. The Zabrak reached for her blaster, it was gone. She then saw what she was wearing: a casual black suit. She grabbed the man by his shirt. "Where are my weapon and armor, ad who the hell are you?" she snapped. 'Wheres Flame?' she thought to herself. the man pushed her away. "Calm down. I'm Ekro, this morning I found you at one of the bases in the swamp, along with a dead Rodian and a I brought you here and fixed you up." he explained.'Dead Rodian...?' thought Aaray, her eyes bugged out of her head as she remembered the events of the previous day. She pulled the sleeve on her left arm up, to reveal the scar of a bullet wound. "Yeah," said Ekro. "Look at this." Aaray grabbed his wrist as he reached for the zipper on her suit. "Don't worry." he said. He pulled the zipper down, but only low enough to reveal a scar that had been left from Kimsi stabbing her. "Th-thank you. For saving me." said Aaray. "No thanks needed, it's what I do." "Rescue dying women from random warehouses?" Ekro laughed. "No, I'm a medic. Not bad with a blaster either. Fa'athra heard there was an attack on one of the bases, so I headed down to help the wounded, only you were alive. I figured you attacked it, but I told Fa'athra it was the rodian." "Wow, know a guy for two minutes and you already owe him alot." Ekro chuckled once again. "You owe me nothing. I enjoy being a medic, but I must admit, I'd prefer it if all my patients were as pretty as you." Aaray gave a smug looked him up and down, the human was wearing a casual suit and had brown hair and blue eyes, he didn't look like a medic. "Well, if i'd ever have to be rescued again, i'd like it to be someone as good looking as you." she flirted. She then saw the symbol on the lags that hung from the ceiling. Fa'athra's symbol. Then she remembered he had said Fa'athra heard about an attack on one of the bases. "Where am I?" asked Aaray. "Oh, pardon me." said the human."Welcome my dear, to your new home, Fa'athra's palace. I hope to keep you company."


	7. Breaking Out Pt 1

"Mmm..." said Mako as she nuzzled into her companion's chest. "Who was that girl on the holocom the other day Mako?" he asked. Mako looked up at him, it was a VERY unexpected question. "Just my friend, why are you asking Kelom?" Kelom. She loved that name.

Mako met him in the cantina, when Twal had called her in to get her dancing outfit. She grabbed a drink and literally bumped into Kelom on the way out, her drink spilling all over her. After cleaning up and alot of apologizing, the two spent the night simply talking in one of the cantina booths. Now here they were, back at Aaray & Mako's home. Mako knew it sounded stupid considering she'd known him for a short time, but she liked him alot. He was charming and funny, not to mention cute. Black hair, brown eyes and his cybernetics on his chin. She didn't however, want to tell him about the Great Hunt yet though.

Kolem shrugged. "Just wondering" he said as he pushed her off of him and pulled her close. "Whoever it was was keeping me away from you..." he then leaned in and kissed her. It was intense and playful. Mako pushed him into the corner of the couch they were sitting in, enjoying herself. Kolem bit her lip, he was teasing her, and Mako liked it. The slicer decided to take a risk and pressed herself against him.

She yelped and backed away from him. "What's wrong?" asked Kolem with furrowed brows.

"Felt something really cold, have any metal on you?" asked Mako. Kolem stood up and searched his personnel, "Aha." he said as he pulled a holocom off of his side. He tossed it onto a nearby table and pulled Mako back onto the couch. Wrapped up in each other, neither of them noticed the holo button had been pressed on the holocom, and someone was coming through the frequency. "Ah Kolem. I trust you... oh." said a voice from the holocom.

Both Mako and Kolem's eyes popped open. They seperated from each other, out of breath, then looked at the holocom. Mako's eyes popped out of her skull and all color drained from Kolem's face as they saw who they had accidently called. "Damn Mako, if I had known you were that much of a party, I wouldn't have had to pay Kolem half as much." said a sarcastic holo of none other then Tarro Blood.

Aaray sank onto the couch Ekro had been sitting in. "I'm a SLAVE for Fa'athra?" Ekro knelt down in front of her and held her hand between both of his. "Look," he said. "I'm a slave too. I hate the worm. Giving him to you as a slave was the only way I could keep him from killing you." 'Because being a slave girl is so much better then dying...' thought Aaray to herself. She looked up at the man. "Why are you so bent on me living?" she asked. Ekro flushed crimson. "Well-I-um... I-" Aaray put her hand up on her mouth to stop him and laughed. "It's ok." she said with a smile. Ekro's blushed lightened, but didn't go away.

"Oh!" he said. He reached to his side and took tags off of his belt. "Here are your ID Tags." Aaray took them from him and clipped them to her side. "Thanks." replied the Zabrak. "I can't be a slave for Fa'athra." she said. Ekro got up and sat down next to her. "Don't worry. We're gonna bust out of here." Aaray gave the man a curious look. "We?" she said. "I know more medical info then anybody in the Mid Rim. Plus, everybody here trusts me and in the years of being a slave, I've learned to know this place like the back of my hand. I can get us both unlocked from Fa'athra'a ball and chain!" The Zabrak's confused look stayed on her face.

"Why haven't you escaped before, then?" she asked. Ekro sighed. "I am good with a blaster, but not good enough to take out Fa'athra's men and not good enough in plans to create a strategy to get out of here. I know your reputation Aaray, with you, we can get out." Aaray tensed when she said her name, but tried not to show it. She trusted him, but she could see the holes in his plan. "I have a slicer friend, she can help us plan this out. Gonna take a little while to perfect though." she said. She had no doubts of Mako's skills. Ekro moved toward her and wrapped an arm around her. "A little while with you?" he said. "I don't mind." "You're lucky I'm tired." replied Aaray. "Everybody's tired after being in a kolto tank sweetheart, head to dreamland." He reached over the side of the couch and grabbed a red blanket.

Ekro shifted his wait so Aaray lay on him Emotionally it made Aaray uncomfortable, but she knew he wouldn't budge and was too tired to argue. "Night beautiful." was the last thing she heard.

Mako glared at Kolem, rage in her eyes. "You work for him?" she snapped. The slicer pulled her blaster from her side and pointed it at Kolem, who put his hands up in front of himself. "Mako, let me explain." he said in desperation. "Oh, there's really nothing to explain." said Tarro. "You already busted me, i might as well tell you just so you know who you're dealing with. My dear, I paid Kolem here to get close enough to you so he could kill you. I like his tactics too, would've worked on your zabrak friend I bet." the thought of Aaray being stupid enough to fall for this like she did was something Mako couldn't picture. Mako threw her blaster on the couch and grabbed Kolem's hands so he couldn't try anything, and searched him. She found a vibroknife in his boot. Mako took the pleasure of tracing his jawline with the end of the blade. when she backed away, Kolem showed more sign of desperation then ever. "Mako, it was just a job at first, but then I got to know you, and I like you alot." he said, blood driplets dropping from his jaw as he spoke. Mako's fierce look stayed on her face, there was nothing but hollowness in his words. "You're a BAD liar." she said, she grabbed her blaster from the couch, and as Kolem reached to stop her, she put a blaster bolt in his forehead. Kolem fell down dead.

After taking a moment to process what she'd done, Mako knelt down in front of the table so she could see Tarro eye-to-eye. "Listen here Blood;" she said. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you better hope that mandalorian armor does it's job. When i get my hands on you, I swear you're not getting a blaster bolt to the head. trust me when I say me and my friend will beat you to a bloody pulp." Tarro put his hand on his chest and made a face that showed false fear. "I'm shaking in my boots. Good luck with that girlie. Oh, you might want to get dear Kolem off the floor, blood stains are nasty to get out of carpet." he then hung up.

Mako sank onto the couch and shook her head in frustration. 'I WILL kill that man.' she thought. She started to wonder if she could trust anyone besides Aaray anymore, or if she ever could trust anybody.

Braden always seemed to shelter her from danger, making her stick to the computers and datapads. Him and Jory would take her out to shoot bestiary on whatever planet they were on, but she rarely ever got the chance to fight weapons instead of claws and fangs. Now she'd lost Braden and Jory, she was a dancer in a cantina, and so many other things. Her life had been flipped upside down and changes were happening faster then she could react. She just felt like she was going to explo- "Gah!" yelled Mako as she plunged the bloody vibroknife into the wall. she leaned her head against the wall in frustration, her grip still on the knife. The cyborg ripped the vibroknife from the wall and set it down on the table next to the holocom.

Aaray awoke from her slumber to find herself still laying on Ekro. "Hey sleeping beauty, how's ya sleep?" he asked. "Good," said Aaray. "Until I had this dream i was captured by the enemy and the medic kept flirting with me." she added with a smirk. Ekro made a face that showed false hurt. "Don't be like that." Aaray rised, shivering. "You cold?" Ekro asked. Aaray shook her head. Ekro ignored it and gave her his orange leather jacket. Aaray slipped it on reluctantly. "Go in there." he pointed towards a room near the kolto tank that seemed to be filled medical supplies.

"You can call your friend in there, privacy and no security holos." Aaray looked at him in confusion. "Won't Fa'athra know we're hatching an escape plan with the security holos in here?" she asked. Ekro shook his head. "Nah. No holos in my kingdom, part of my conditions." As curious as Aaray was on why he was aloud to have conditions, she headed towards the room.

As she started to close the door behind her, there was a knock on the other door. Both Aaray and Ekro froze in their placed. "Hide behind the kolto tank." whispered Ekro out of the corner of his mouth. "Why not in here?" Aaray whispered back. "They'll hear the door close. Behind the kolto tank. Now." Aaray knew this wasn't a time to argue. She ran as swiftly as she could behind the kolto tank, like a bat flying through the night. "Coming!" yelled Ekro as he ran for the door. He opened it and before him was a tall man with light brown hair and tanned skin.

"Hello little brother." said the stranger. "She here?" he asked. the man wore a white shirt, brown boots, a red leather vest and black pants that were ripped at the knee. Aaray watched from behind the kolto tank and a box filled with rations. "Yeah, she's here. Come on out aaray." said Ekro. Aaray hesitated, but Ekro sent a reassuring look her way. The Zabrak emerged from her hiding spot and walked over to the pair of men. "Hey beautiful." flirted the stranger. "You the princess my brother here rescued from the tower?" "Back off Timsin, she's mine."said Ekro. Aaray rolled her eyes. "This isn't a fairytale, just because you saved me doesn't mean I'm going to automatically start kissing you." she cut in.

"What if I say please?" asked Timsin. Aaray's hand cracked as she slapped his face. "Ow." said Timsin as he rubbed his cheek. "I'll stick to the fairytales then.' Aaray looked at her hand. "Yeah, and your thick skull made me break a nail. "Cute." he snorted. Ekro laughed. "Ok, let's introduce you two." he said. "Aaray, this is my brother Timsin, he works on Nem'ro's speeders and droids, he shows his weak side by playing music sometimes. Timsin, this is Aaray, the princess I rescued from the tower." Aaray elbowed him in the gut and he groaned in pain. Both Aaray and Timsin laughed. Ekro rubbed his side and looked at his brother. "You been working on Ol' Kitty?" he asked, looking at his brother's hands covered in dry oil. "Kitty?" Aaray interrupted. "She's the land speeder I've been working on for about 6 months now. almost finished, but not good enough to ride." Timsin answered. "So speeders aren't just a job for you?" asked the Zabrak. "Yeah, it's what i've always done. Always been good at tinkering with gears and wires ever since i was little, kinda like my little brother here and his medsacks." "Medpac." Ekro corrected. "Whatever." Said Timsin with a roll of his eyes. Aaray suddenly snapped back into reality and remembered where she was. "What's my work here?" she asked the men. the two brothers looked at each other. "You're um, one of the girls yous see sitting next to the Hutt in skimpy outifts..." Ekro explained. Aaray's eyes practically popped out of her head. "You've got to be kidding..." she said. "Nope, we're serious, so you better hurry and get on your costume!" said Timsin with an eager look. Aaray and Ekro ignored him. "Look, aaray. I know that that job is awful. But, whenever someone comes to meet with Fa'athra and discuss buisness, you'll be right next to him listening in on the conversation, brownie points from Nem'ro for Fa'athra's inside information." Ekro said. Aaray sighed, she knew he was right. "Fine." she said.

Aaray didn't know whether or not she was happy with her new work. "You're lucky I trust you Ekro." she told the medic. "Why trust me so quick? Because I healed you? How naive." asked the human. Aaray shook her head. "You could've left me for dead, you didn't. You could've claimed my many many bounties, you didn't. You could've had me tortured into giving you information about Nem'ro and get some big time brownie points, you didn't." The two looked at each other and Timsin looked at Ekro. "She so has the hots for you." Aaray stomped on Timsin's foot as hard as she could. Timsin groaned in pain as if a boulder had been dropped on his foot. "Wow, you're alot weaker then you look." said Aaray. "Unfortunately it's true. Under this utterly irresitible exterior is a tortured soul as skilled as a puppy in combat." Ekro rolled his eyes. "That's the soap opera version of saying he doesn't know how to use a weapon, believes it brings bad luck." he told Aaray. Aaray hung her head back and laughed, then gave Timsin a stern look. "Look, it's bad luck not to have a weapon nowadays. I mean really, how the hell do you live on Nal Hutta and not know how to use a blaster? Or a vibroblade at least.?" The man shrugged. "Hide int he corner." It's wording sounded as if it was meant to be sarcastic, but the man said it in a serious tone.

Another knock on the door came. "You don't have any cousins do you?" Aaray asked them sarcastically. "No, Carlos is on balmorra selling death sticks and joey is on vacationing on nar shaddaa, lucky bastard." Timsin joked. Ekro smacked him in the back of the head. "Stay hered." the medic said to Aaray. He turned and walked over to the door, and came in an ebony-skinned man with a cybernetic arc over his right brow. He looked at Aaray, his face expressionless. "You start in twenty minutes." he said plainly. the man then walked out without another word. Ekro turned to Aaray. "Go call your friend, hurry." Aaray shed Ekro's jacket and gave it to him. The Zabrak walked back into the room filled with Medical supplies to call Mako.

the holocom continued to ring. "Come on Mako..." Aaray muttered. A few moments later a holographic Mako came in sight. "Hey Aa- where are you?" the cyborg asked curiously. "Fa'athra's palace..." Aaray replied, closing her eyes as if shielding herself from an explosion. Mako's eyes practically popped out of her head. "Willingly? Undercover? Why the hell are you in Fa'athra's palace Aaray?" "I got attacked when on Fa'athra's turf. Fa'athra's medic got me back to health, he and his brother are gonna help me bust outta here." Aaray replied. Mako's expression didn't change. The slicer crossed her arms. "Are you sure we can trust them?" she asked.

Aaray didn't answer, but turned and opened the door slightly and showed Mako Ekro and Timsin. ekro was currently slapping Timsin with his coat sleeves. "Yeah, i don't know how much they could hurt us Mako." Aaray told her sarcastically. Mako nodded. "I'll see if I can find a map of that place, stay safe okay?" "No promises." The hunter replied with a smirk. Aaray reached to turn the holocom off, but Mako put her hands up. "Wait-." she said. "You know that guy you heard in the background last time you called me?" Aaray nodded. "Yeah... he was hired by Tarro to kill us both." she finished. Aaray shook her head and clucked her tongue. "The galaxy's putting you through living hell Mako." "Don't I know it." Mako then clicked off the holocom.

Aaray walked out ofthe room and the ebony-skinned man had returned with Aaray's 'uniform'. Aaray moaned, took the outfit and went back to the supply room to change. It was blue and it's top was made of metal, and it's bottom was a metal belt with a long blue cloth to cover her. She groaned. 'I thought my dancing outfit was bad...' she thought. Aaray walked back out and glared at Timsin as he looked her up and down multiple times. The large man grabbed Aaray's wrist and dragged her out the door. He took her down a long dark hallway where Fa'athra rested. "Ah, here she is, Nem'ro's little hunter." Fa'athra said in huttese, his voice dripping with sarcasm and loathing. "Bring her closer Rali." the ebony skinned man -Rali- pushed her forward and onto the floor.

Aaray fell onto her knees and glared up at the dark purple hutt. "My brother will now feel the humiliation of seeing his little hunter as my slave." This caught Aaray's attention. "Nem'ro is your brother?" she asked, rather curiously. "Yes, unfortunately he is." Fa'athra hissed.

The hutt turned to Rali. "Prepare her." he told the cyborg plainly. Rali nodded and dragged Aaray up by her arm. He picked her up as if she were light as a father and placed her on the stand where Fa'athra sat next to a long haired Chiss. "So i just sit here?" asked the Zabrak, feeling stupid and useless. Fa'athra looked down on her. "Just shut up and look pretty." he told her. Rali looked at Aaray. "You will do whatever master tells you to." the cyborg snapped.

Two hours had passsed and the only things that had happened was a dealer selling Nem'ro exotic spices and the execution of a man who had stolen one of Fa'athra's speeders. A cold hand touched aaray's wrist, she turned to see the Chiss woman. "Meet me at dinner." she whispered. Aaray opened her mouth to respond, but felt Rali's eyes on her.

Half an hour later and nothing had happened. Fa'athra looked down on his slave girls. "Go. eat. you're no use to me if you're skin and bone. Rali and another man started unchaining Aaray, the chiss woman, and four other girls. Aaray enjoyed the feeling of her hands being free. The drunks and workers cleared the room, and guards herded the girls into a a door behind Fa'athra and it led into a large gray room filled with tables that each had a small plate of meat and vegetables. The chiss woman grabbed Aaray's wrist and dragged her to a table in the corner. Aaray sat down, the metal bench freezing her thighs. the chiss in front of her looked around to assure they weren't being watched. she leaned towards Aaray. "Listen here and listen close, I can only say this once, say nothing until I'm done." she told the zabrak. "My name is Tikara, I've been in this position for four months. That chiss you killed, Kimsi, was my sister. Thanks for that, she's the one who landed me here. I know you, can i can tell by the look in yuor eyes you want to strike at Rali Temple, don't. He is force sensitive, and has been secretly trained by Inquisitor Umbrith, a sith from korriban. His sister Raina is also Force Sensitive, but very few people no it because she is an ensign and doesn't want to be Sith. That spice dealer that Fa'athra had a meeting with earlier, he was selling Fa'athra illegal spice. It's what Fa'athra pays his spies with, spies he has planted in Nem'ro's circle, I know the names. Image is everything to Fa'athra, i can help you ruin his image if you get me out of here. Surely a ruined Fa'athra would get Nem'ro to sponsor you..." Aaray's eyes widened, taking it all in. "Illegal spice, secretly having a sith trained to protect him, surely that's enough to ruin him. You already gave me that info, so i could just kill you and use it anyway." Aaray replied, she wasn't planning on trusting anybody here. Tikara grinned deviously. "That is not the only information I have for you, all you have to do, is get me out of here." The chiss told her. "How do you know all of this?" "Like I said, image is everything to Fa'athra, whenever he's on that seat, his girls are with him." Tikara explained. Aaray took a bite of her bantha meat, considering it.

Fa'athra smiled and Rali turned off the listening device. "Wonderful idea to put a listening device on the Zabrak's costume Rali, simply wonderful." Rali grinned at the idea of pleasing his boss.

"Thank you master."


	8. Breaking Out Pt 2

Sedyn sat in a chair, sharpening his knife. "Quit pacing kid, just calm the fuck down." he told Tarro. "Don't tell me to calm down!" Tarro snapped. "I can't get my hands on that crazy Zabrak bitch!" Sedyn rolled his eyes and put his feet up on the table in front of him. "Y'know, maybe I could help you find the chick if you gave me a name." Tarro ran his hands through his long black hair and laughed bitterly. "I tried, but you just said 'Oh no, as long as I get a good fight out of it I don't care.' Her name's Aaray. Aaray Azkon." the younger man replied.  
Sedyn looked up from the knife and stared at Tarro with both his organic and cybernetic eye.  
"Aaray Azkon? This is gonna be fun..." he muttered. Tarro sat down in a chair and looked at the cyborg in curiousity. "You know her?" he asked. Sedyn nodded and put the knife down. "You could say that. All I can really tell ya is that she's a former Mandalorian, from Taris." he explained to Tarro, his voice deep and scratchy. "Former? So she's dar'manda?" Sedyn nodded again. "Then as a Mandalorian it's job to get rid of her. Killing two thrantas with one stone. How come you never told me about her before?" asked Tarro curiously and now even more eager to kill Aaray. Sedyn got off the couch and fixed his crooked jeans, then looked at Tarro, with the red tattoos all across his face and blue eyes. "You're the closest thing I have to a son Tarro, but there's alot you don't know about me." the cyborg answered, then walked off.

"Are you sure we can trust her Aaray?" Ekro asked. Aaray sighed. "Yes, Ekro, I do. In fact, I think we should tell Tikara out deepest secrets." she replied sarcastically. Ekro rolled his eyes. Aaray laid her cards down on the table. "Pair of Jacks." she declared. Timsin chuckled and showed his cards. "Silly girl. Pair of Kings." he teased her. "Sorry guys." Ekro said, putting his cards down. "Royal flush." he said with a smirk. "How...?" Aaray and Timsin asked simultaneously. Ekro chuckled and tried to respond, but there was a knock on the door. "Should I hide behind the kolto tank again?" The Zabrak joked. Ekro rised from his chair, shed his leather jacket and walked over to the door. A moment later Tikara came into view. "Tikara?" Aaray asked in curiousity. "No, it's the Emperor, who do you think it is?" The Chiss snapped. "This is Tikara?" Ekro asked. Aaray nodded. Ekro looked her up and down; black t-shirt, gray pants, light blue skin, her hair a dark blue asymmetrical bob with one lock braided.  
Ekro turned to his brother. "Wow Timsin, thirty seconds and you haven't hit on either of them. Proud of ya." he said sarcastically, arms crossed. Timsin wasn't paying attention, but was looking down on the ground, shuffling his feet. "Timsin?" Ekro called to his brother. Timsin looked up. "What?" "Pay attention." Aaray commanded. "Well it'd be easier to focus if you two were wearing your uniforms!" he spat back lamely. "And there it is." Ekro said.  
Tikara rolled her eyes. "So are we gonna talk buisness or is snack time coming soon?" the Chiss snapped. "Okay okay, don't get all bitchy." Aaray told her defensively. They all sat down at the card table, Timsin in a black vest, laying back with his arms crossed behind his head and a bored look on his face, Ekro sitting on the chair backwards in his white t-shirt.  
"Why are you here Tikara?" Aaray demanded, arms crossed against her dark green t-shirt. "I am here to discover if you've decided to accept my offer." she replied, rapping her fingers on the table. "You haven't really given us a reason to trust you, what we decided is that if you prove yourself trustworthy, we'll take the deal." Aaray bartered. "I told you about Rali and Fa'athra, I think I've proven myself." Tikara shot back. "For all we know you could be trying to gain our trust while being Fa'athra's spy." Timsin cut in. "Yes, I'd definitely tell you Fa'athra's deepest secret, that he's having a Sith trained to protect him, just to gain your trust. Think that through." replied Tikara. She turned to Aaray. "Tell ya what, ask me something and I'll answer. Don't know how else I'll get you to trust me." "Fine." Aaray replied, after a glance at Ekro and Timsin. It took her a moment before she thought of something that normally would be prying. "You said your sister landed you here. Care to explain that?" the Zabrak asked. All three of them saw the discomfort in Tikara's expression. "Had to pick that one. I was an agent in Imperial Intelligence. I was sent to this filthy planet with my partner Roscoe. We went undercover as drug dealers, y'know,spice, death sticks, the things high in demand with Fa'athra. Anyway, we were meant to find proof that Fa'athra was supplying weapons to imperial enemies. Kimsi owed Fa'athra a fat stack of credits she didn't have. Fa'athra thinks of his slave girls as trophies, mirilian pirate, cyborg member of havoc squad, etc. when my sister found out about that, she drugged me, took my unconscious body to Fa'athra, exposed me as an Imperial Agent and gave me to Fa'athra as a slave girl, which paid her debt. There's my story, happy now?" Nobody said anything. Timsin decided to break the silence. "Okay...awkward silence behind, I think she's legit guys." Aaray groaned and looked at Ekro who seemed to have the same reaction as her: Defeat.  
"Fine. We'll help you bust out." she said through gritted teeth. Tikara looked satisfied. "Good. Very good." The Chiss said. Neither Aaray or the brothers were sure if she was talking to who she was talking to. Ekro opened his mouth to say something when there was a knock on the door to the medcenter. There was a moment of silence and the result was the door getting kicked down. A yellow-green skinned mirilian woman with blonde hair tied back tight in a ponytail. Anger flared in Ekro's eyes and he got up and walked over to the woman. "Y'know, are easier ways of getting a man's attention then knocking down his door!" he snapped with a very pissed off look on his face. The woman's expression didn't change put she raised her fist and punched Ekro across the face."Ah"! Ekro groaned, trying to put his jaw back into place. "Son of a-" the mirilian woman grabbed the medic by his shoulders and punched him in the gut, then wrapped her foot around his ankle and tripped him. Ekro's fell and his head hit the ground with a thud, it felt as if his brain had bounced around.

Aaray was across the room in the blink of an eyes and punched the woman in the face. Blood fell from the woman's lip but that didn't stop her from grabbing Aaray's wrist and twisting it behind her back. "Hello Azkon, I'm Jinga, I'm your executioner." the mirilian whispered int he Zabrak's ear. Tikara was just enjoying an entertaining fight, but decided enough was enough and went to help Aaray by attempting to jump Jinga. Jinga saw what she was doing to do and raised her leg just in time to kick Tikara. The chiss fell to the floor. "Ugh...bitch!" she hissed. Aaray raised her leg uncomfortably and kicked the woman. She fell in pain and Tikara was on her in a flash, punching her repeatedly in the face. The mirilian's mouth was filled with blood by the time Aaray pulled Tikara away. Tikara backed away reluctantly and leaned against the table they had been sitting at before Jinga 'arrived'. Aaray kneeled beside Jinga and dug her elbow into her ribcage to keep her down. "Timsin, blaster, now." she ordered. Timsin obeyed and started digging in the weapons cache where they had hidden Aaray's things. "Tell me who you are." Blood came out of Jinga's mouth as she laughed. "I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request." Aaray's expression didn't change. "Means no." she added. Timsin tossed Aaray a blaster, then went to go care for his unconscious brother.  
Aaray immediately pointed the weapon at Jinga. "Sorry, what? I can't hear you. Please speak clearly into the gun barrel." the Zabrak snapped. "I'd rather not, thanks though!" the mirilian replied merrily. Aaray's finger moved to the trigger of the blaster. "Okay! Fine. My name is Jinga. It was surprisingly easy to track you down, Azkon." Aaray gave a half-hearted sigh. "Ugh, another stalker. I know i'm attractive but there are easier ways of telling me you're interested." she replied sarcastically, making Tikara smirk. Jinga rolled her eyes. "I was hired to kill you, you blithering idiot. Judging by your reaction i'd say you were expecting it. You've worked with nem'ro, Azkon, you've seen his secrets. Nem'ro hires me to assassinate people who've seen that stuff. By the way, get your elbow out of my ribcage please." Aaray shoved her elbow deeper in. "So who kills you then?" Timsin cut in, trying to get Ekro back into shape. Jinga chuckled. "It's a good thing you're pretty, boy. Nem'ro won't kill me, I've been working for him for years, he thinks I'm loyal. I'm just waiting for a better deal to come around so I can spill my guts." "You're not getting a job with us, bitch." Tikara snapped.  
"Why bother telling us anyway? You know we're gonna kill you whether you tell us or not." Aaray asked. Jinga laughed. "Because," Jinga suddenly put all her muscle into it and pushed Aaray off of her and their spots were reversed. "I wanted to give you the courtesy of knowing who murdered you." she added. Aaray tried to shove her off but Jinga had her shoved down good. The mirilian's loose hair brushed her nose when she tried to headbutt her, she couldn't get high enough. Her blaster had been knocked out of her hand and was across the floor near Timsin's feet. "Timsin! Shoot her!" Tikara yelled from across the room, digging in a different weapons cache for another blaster. Timsin grabbed the blaster and pointed it at Jinga. "Go ahead pretty boy, shoot me. I know you can't do it. I can see it in your eyes." the mirilian taunted. The blaster shook in the human's hand, and he hesitated for a few moments. Tikara . "Dude, do it!" she snapped. Timsin shot it. Jinga moved fast and got off Aaray, and brought her over her as a shield. The blaster hit Aaray's upper left arm. Aaray groaned in pain as her arm bled, and Jinga cackled, pushed Aaray off of her and pulled out a blaster that was at her hip. "You can't beat me." she stated. Tikara chuckled and pulled out a blaster from behind her back she got from the weapons cache and shot the mirilian in the gut. "I think I just did."

Aaray groaned and slowly got up. Timsin and Tikara tried to keep her up but she pushed them away. "Get me a medpac and a cloth." she muttered, and sat down in the chair she had been sitting in before Jinga came. Timsin grabbed a medpac and gave it to Aaray, and Tikara put a cloth on her wound. "I'm fine, i'll handle it, go take care of Ekro." she told them. Timsin obeyed and used a medpac on Ekro. "You're taking that rather well." Tikara told her. Aaray shrugged, resulting in searing pain in her arm. "Nothing I haven't dealt with before. Hurts like hell though." Tikara smirked. "It'd be weird if it didn't." Aaray turned to look at her. "Kim"What about you?" The Chiss looked at her curiously. "What about me?" "You used to getting shot at yet?" Tikara laughed, more of a bitter laugh then a happy one. "Getting shot was practically part of training when I was a kid. Actually, it was." she pulled down her shirt collar to reveal a bullet wound, just above her breast.  
Aaray nodded in approval. "Not bad. you said you were training when you were a kid, you didn't have any parents?" The Zabrak asked. Tikara shook her head. Kimsi and I were born into Imperial intelligence. First chance she got she escaped, I stayed, we kept in touch though. We never knew our parents. I didn't exactly have the 'eat supper, get tucked in and go to bed' childhood I assume you had." Aaray almost laughed out loud. "Yeah, my childhood was not what you think it was." she blurted out. "What do you mean?" Tikara replied. 'Shit, You walked right into that one Azkon.' Aaray thought. She sighed and pulled up her right sleeve to reveal a black tattoo of a Mandalorian symbol. "Ah. Parents?" said Tikara. "Dead. Saw my dad die." Stated Aaray sadly. Tikara didn't really know what to say to that. "So now we're swapping war stories, how soon before we start braiding each other's hair?" the Chiss joked. Aaray laughed.  
"Fine by me, just watch the horns." Both women laughed. "Guys, he's up!" Timsin called. Aaray and Tikara got up and headed to Timsin and Ekro. Pain shot up Aaray's arm when she got up and the wound was still bleeding, but she forced herself to grin and bear it. "Ekro, you doing okay buddy?" she asked the human. Ekro sat up on the table and took off his orange jacket. "Yeah, just tired and got a killer headache." he told them. "I know how to wake him up." Tikara said. She grabbed his head and kissed him. When she separated from him he definitely looked awake. Timsin yawned. "I'm feeling a little sleepy too." All three of them rolled their eyes. Ekro spotted the now-pink cloth Aaray was holding to her arm. "What the hell happened?" he asked, alarmed. "We killed that bitch that's what happened!" Tikara explained merrily."Yeah, and i got shot in the process!" Aaray snapped. "Oh yeah." Tikara said, arms crossed. Ekro ignored Tikara and ushered Aaray into a chair. "You guys take care of the...body. I'll patch up Aaray." he ordered. "Where the hell are we gonna put a body where it'll go unnoticed Ekro?" his brother asked. "You guys got a trash chute don't you?" Aaray asked, as if stating the obvious. Tiakra nodded. "A trash chute would work. Open the door, send Jinga into the great beyond." she explained. "You're both disturbing on so many levels." Ekro told them. "Thank you." both women said simultaneously. The brother's rolled their eyes. Timsin and Tikara grabbed Jinga's body and went to go find the trash chute. "You just keep saving my ass don't you?" Aaray joked while Ekro dug in a drawer for kolto. Ekro chuckled. "What happened, after I konked out?" Ekro asked. "We kicked her ass, not much more then that. Nem'ro sent her to assassinate me." she explained. Ekro's face went blank. "So, I take it you need to get another sponsor?" he asked, applying kolto to her wound. The kolto felt cool and soothed the Zabrak's pain, but didn't get rid of it completely. "Unfortunately no, there's nobody else to sponsor me so I'm stuck with him. I gotta get into the Hunt and kill Tarro Blood and his partner, and I don't care what it takes." "You really wanna kill this guy don't you?" Aaray nodded. "Mako can have Tarro, but I get his partner Sedyn." she didn't really know what she was saying at this point, just venting and blurting things out. "You know him?" the medic reached into the drawer again to get a bandage. Aaray extended her arm to let him wrap it up, and began ranting again. "Yeah, I knew him. And I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill him and I'm going to savor the sound of his screaming." Ekro stared at her. "Okay..." Aaray laughed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Sorry, didn't mean to freak you out." "It's fine, here." he handed her a medpac. Aaray took it and used it. "Thanks, feels much better." she said with a smile. "Welcome."  
They waited a couple minutes for Timsin and Tikara to come back. They came in and Timsin looked shell-shocked. "We did it." he told them. "No, I did it. Timsin here stayed as far away from the body as possible." Tikara complained. Ekro and Aaray rolled their eyes. "Point is, it's done." Ekro said."We better get to the slave girl beds." Aaray said. "Wow wow, no way Aaray. We just got attacked. You're sleeping in here tonight, I got a couple extra sleeping bags, you'd be sleeping on them in the slave girl pens anyway." Ekro told them. "I'm not even going to bother trying to make that sound not perverted." Tikara and Aaray shrugged. "Fine." they both said simultaneously."  
The beds were laid out and they all settled in. Before going to sleep noticed that Aaray looked nervous. "Hey, you okay?" he whispered. Aaray nodded. "Yeah, just kinda worried someone's gonna slash my throat in my sleep y'know?" Ekro chuckled. "Don't worry, me and Timsin won't let that happen." Aaray smiled. "Thanks." she replied. "You're gonna be fine." he said, then blushed. He walked off and Aaray headed to sleep.

Timsin sat down on the couch in Ekro's medcenter. He took a wrench out of his toolbox and started cleaning the oil off of it. He did this with a couple other tools until Aaray walked in. "Hey...Timsin." she said. She walked towards him, her lips were lopsided and she had a blank look in her eye. "Why don't you play a song for me darlin'? Ekro said you a musician." she said. Timsin chuckled. "I just like music, I sing along to the lyrics and Ekro makes fun of me for it.  
She plopped down on the couch next to him. Timsin looked her up and down, she was still wearing her jeans but now some sort of belly shirt. Timsin checked his watch to keep himself from staring. "It's the middle of the night Aaray, what're you-" the strong smell of alcohol invaded his nostrils. "Aaray, are you drunk?" Aaray laughed. "Probably." she replied. "Went down to the Palace cantina and took down about seven spirits!" Timsin's eyes widened and he put down the mandolin. "Seven spirits, are you trying to drink your life away?" he asked her.  
"What? I'm a slave girl and if I get out my Great Hunt sponsor wants me killed. not much to live for Timsin." Aaray replied loosely. "Well you're definetly taking all this well..." the mechanic muttered sarcastically. Timsin picked one of his tools and got ready to clean it with a dirty rag, but was cut off by Aaray sliding her hand up his leg. He looked up at the Zabrak, who had a flirtatious look on her face. A sly smile creeped onto Timsin's face. She grabbed him and kissed him, it didn't take him by surprise but he returned it. He tasted the liquor on her lips, it made him dizzy yet made him want more. He pressed his lips harder against hers and grabbed by the waist to pull her closer. He bit her lip and she ran his fingers through her brown hair. She slid his hand up her shirt pressed her lips harder against his, then separated from him. "Not bad, Tim..." she said drunkly. Timsin shook his head. He loved women but didn't wanna take advantage of her while she was drunk. "C'mon, let's get you back to bed." he said, then picked her, like a baby, and carried her off. She played with a couple loose locks of hair, and fell asleep as soon as she hit the sleeping bag.

"Aaray...Aaray...get up." Tikara pushed the Zabrak back and forth to no avail. The Chiss kicked Aaray's back hard. "Ah! What the fuck Tikara?" Aaray snapped. "Guys, she'sup!" Tikara yelled, ignoring a frustrated Aaray. Tikara tossed Aaray's slave girl outfit onto her and fake diamonds landed in Aaray's mouth. "Gee, thanks Tikara." she said sarcastically. The former agent saluted her. "Here to help." Aaray rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I got a killer headache..." she moaned while getting out of her sleeping bag. "Maybe because you were so drunk last nught you made out with me last night." Timsin joked. "What?" Ekro, Aaray and Tikara all said at the same time. "Heh, you don't remember a thing then." he chuckled. "You actually kissed him?" Tikara asked. Aaray flustered. "Apparently!" Timsin meant to joke not to make it spin into this. "Guys; yes, Aaray was irresponsible, but only to the point of getting drunk off her ass, but not to the point of consciously kissing me." Aaray squinted at him. "GEE. THANKS, Timsin!" she snapped. "We gotta go guys, discuss this later." Tikara said, then grabbed Aaray by the wrist and dragged her into the closet to get changed into their uniforms.  
They started to both undress, Aaray got into her blue outfit and Tikara in her red. Tikara had to bite. "So-" "Not. A. Word." the Zabrak snapped back. Tikara chuckled.  
"How do I look?" Tikara asked once they were both dressed. Aaray looked her up and down, it was the same as hers only red, a dancer top and a slave girl bottom. It showed off her slender figure and most of her light blue skin, she had also fixed her hair so it was just the same, asymmetrical, sort-of ponytail in the back, and a braided lock of hair. "You look good. The red really brings out the color of your eyes." The Zabrak replied. The chiss squinted at her. "Ha. Ha." Aaray smirked. They left the room and found Ekro on a comlink with Mako. "Mako?" Aaray said in curiousity. "Hey Aaray. You boyfriend and his brother here filled me in." Tikara smirked, Ekro and Aaray groaned. "What you got Mako?" the Zabrak asked. Ekro passed the comlink into Aaray's hand. "Well," the cyborg began. "I figured the people you were working with knew their way around the palace, so I started digging around guard positions and schedules. You can do it tonight, guys. Fa'athra isn't throwing some big party like he usually is, delivery for Juma got screwed up. There won't be as many guards. I'll be going undercover as a spice dealer, I'll keep my face covered of course. When i give Fa'athra and his little Sith trainee a sample of the 'spice', it'll knock them out. Before I do that, you guys get a minute away, after I poison them, knock out a couple guards and take their weapons, then we shoot our way out." she explained. "Damn Mako." Aaray said. "You sure this'll work?" Timsin asked. Mako nodded. "I'm ninety percent sure." Mako reassured. Tikara crossed her arms."If we die i'll be coming back from the dead to slap you with that other ten percent." Mako rolled her eyes. "Good luck guys, don't die." she said, the comlink clicked off.  
"You ready?" Ekro asked the girls. both women nodded. "Let's go and get this shit over with." Tikara said, then turned to walk off. "Wait, I need my blaster." Ekro, Timsin, and Tikara looked at her. "You're just gonna steal one from a guard." Tikara said. Aaray shook her head. "My parents gave me that blaster, I'm leaving with it Tikara." Aaray snapped at the Chiss. Timsin walked off and started digging in a drawer full of tools and pulled out a blue rag. He walked back to Aaray and handed it to her. "Oil rag, unused. Attach it to your side, then you can hide the blaster." Aaray took it and thanked him. Ekro gave her Flame after she attached it and Aaray attached it to her belt. The Zabrak nodded at Tikara and they walked off, Timsin and Ekro started packing the very few things they would need.

Rali turned off the listening device. "God dammit." he hissed. "Nothing is ever easy."

Aaray and Tikara walked into the room where Fa'athra rested, and a chill went up Aaray's back when she entered the room with several other slave girls. They sat down on the Hutt's stand and Rali chained them. Nothing really happened that day; bounty hunter collecting money on an Evocii, a shipment of new slaves, a set of new dancers for the cantina.  
It was 6 pm when Mako arrived. She was diguised in a hooded top and black gear for the bottom. Fa'athra looked down at the hooded figure. "What brings you here?" the Hutt asked. Mako made sure to keep her head low. "I bring spice from the Outer Worlds." she said, her voice slightly shaky. Fa'athra nodded in approval. "Do you have a sample?" the Hutt asked. Mako smirked under her hood. "Yes, of course." the cyborg reached to her belt and pulled out two small vials filled with red spice. Rali stepped forward and took them from her. Fa'athra raised his hand to halt Rali handing one to him. "Let's let some of the girls try some, I think they deserve a little pick-me-up." Fa'athra said, eyeing Tikara and Aaray. 'FUCK.' thought all three women. Rali smiled deviously and handed the vials to the two women, then walked Chiss and the Zabrak hesitantly took the vials and stared at them. Fa'athra laughed, the sound echoing throughout the room. "Rali, now." the hutt ordered. Rali raised his hands towards Mako and purple lightning shot out of each of his fingers. Mako moaned and fell to the ground unconscious. Rali stepped in front of her and lifted her hood off. "Here she is, master." Rali declared. "Mako!" Aaray yelled, to no avail. Rali turned to her and looked at his master for permission. The hutt nodded. Aaray suddenly was unchained, only to be choked with Rali's force powers. Tikara grabbed her feet and tried to pull her down, also to no avail. Rali finally dropped her and Aaray took a well needed breath. Tikara got unchained and two lackey's pulled both women to their feet."Find out what they know. Have some fun first though." Fa'thra ordered. Rali smiled and raised his fist, punching Aaray in the face multiple times. Aaray swtore under her breath, he was lucky the guard had her hands tied behind her back. "Hey!" Tikara snapped. The cyborg turned to her. Rali kicked her in the gut, the held Aaray's face between his hands. "See what you did? If you had jsut been a good little girl your friends wouldn't be getting hurt right now." he hissed. "Go to hell." Aaray replied, her mouth visibly bloody and her voice shaky. Rali nodded and signaled the workers to take Aaray and Tikara somewhere. The cyborg went back across the room to pick up Mako,and slung her unconscious body over his shoulder. Tikara and Aaray were separated, Tikara was dragged off with Mako & Rali into some cell, which they were thrown into and was then locked. Aaray was taken to a rather empty room, with only a tool rack filled with numerous sharp objects. The worker dropped her to the floor and threw a pair of underwear and a bra at her. He ordered her to change into them, and the Zabrak obeyed. She felt very uncomfortable changing as the guard was watching her like a hawk, and he grabbed her as soon as she was done. She picked her up and set her up against a rock plate. He raised her hands up and cuffed them with leather bonds. He did the same across her feet, chest and hips. He grabbed Flame and tossed it into a garbage bin in the corner. Rali came in a moment later. The dark-skinned man nodded at the worker to leave, once he was gone he turned to Aaray.  
"You think you're so smart with that little escape plan don't you?" Rali snapped, walking over to the table of sharp objects. He picked up a vibroknife and pulled it right by her jaw, which he knew was too close for comfort. "What do you know about Nem'ro? Save your friends the pain Azkon." he taunted. "I don't know anything. I would go into his chambers and he'd tell me about my next job. I never saw anything." Aaray explained, hating being stuck in this position. "Lying bitch. Tell me what you know!" Rali snapped. He put the vibroknife down and shocked her with force lightning, resulting in a yelp of pain. "I don't know anything!" Aaray yelled during the shock. Rali picked up the vibroknife again. "Fine. Then tell me about all the little friends you've made here, I couldn't tell who they were by just hearing their voices. I'd love to meet them." he hissed. Aaray decided his tongue might as well be forked. "Never. Go to hell Rali." Rali raised the knife and stabbed the slate, it landed right next to her face. Aaraywould've jumped a foot back if not for her restrictions. "Fuck off." she snapped. Rali chuckled, then took the knife to her arm and started cutting into her flesh. Aaray hissed, but didn't cry, Crying was the last thing that bastard was gonna get out of her. Blood fell from her arm, and there was a deep gash Rali had given her. "Aww, you gonna cry? Go ahead." Rali taunted. He licked the blood from the blade. He started at her left shin. He punched her in the face multiple times. "Tell me! Who are you working with?!" Rali yelled. Aaray screamed throughout and Rali laughed through the process. He force-shocked her again and Aaray wasn't sure how much more she could take in one sitting. She wasn't going to betray the brothers, but damn she hurt.  
A twi'lek woman walked into the room, wearing purple robes and a metal headband to guard her lekku. She was yellow-green skinned, with patterns covering almost every inch of her face. "Rali, step away. It's my turn." she hissed. Rali obeyed. "Yes, master." the cyborg turned to Aaray. "Azkon, meet Darth Umbrith."

Aaray hissed in pain, Inquisitor Umbrith had used something called a Mind Shared, it made her head hurt and sting. "Tell me who you're working with, and this can end, Azkon." the twi'lek said, her voice dripping with loathing. "Go to hell, bitch." Aaray snapped. Umbrith simply chuckled. "Been there, done that. I think I know how to make you talk. The Mind Shard wasn't enough, which is odd, it splinters into your mind. She reached into her purple robe and pulled out a syringe filledwith black liquid. "Sith poison. Chemicals, it'll sting you on the inside Azkon, not the outside." Aaray gritted her teeth and waited for the pain. Umbrith inserted the needle into her good arm and Aaray bit her lip to keep from screaming. The Sith lord was right, it stinged like hell. "You see Rali here? He's too good for the trials. I know he'll make it." Umbrith bragged. "I took it upon myself to train him. He will become a great Sith, and you will die here, like the pathetic little bitch you are." Aaray's anger flared up even more, which she didn't think was possible. The poison burned in her veins, and she knew she wasn't gonna last much longer. The guard that had ordered her to undress came in. "We have found out who the Zabrak was working with. The mechanic and the medic." 'Fuck.' thought Aaray.

Aaray was thrown into a cell with Tikara and Mako. Mako took off her hood and used it to soak up the blood on her arm and shin while Aaray explained what happened. Tikara and Mako's faces went blank. "Well now wha-" Tikara was cut off by the sound of a scream. Rali came in front of their cell door. "We're gonna hurt your little medic friend now babygirl, have fun falling asleep to the screaming. Mechanic's next." he hissed, then walked off laughing bitterly. Aaray let the tears from the pain come now, and the chiss and cyborg did their best to mend her. The screaming of Ekro and Timsin went on for an hour, then they were both thrown with the women. "They made me watch." Ekro said. "They made me watch him torture my brother." Timsin had some cuts on his arms and Ekro had bruises on his face. Umbrith and Rali came up a moment after that. "Have fun." Umbrith snapped. they walked off to go report to Fa'athra. Thegroup was in a fuzz, they had no idea what to do now. "Sleep, guys, as well as you can. Let's survive another day." Aaray declared. She huddled up next to Timsin for warmth, she had never gotten her clothes back. "If you wanted to cuddle you could've just asked." he joked. Everybody glared at him. "Excuse me for trying to lighten the mood. Last night of life might as well get cozy." they all rolled their eyes. Mako ripped her hood into pieces and binded up Aaray's wounds. Ekro shrugged off his leather jacket, which they surpsingly let him keep, and gave it to Aaray. The group tried to get to sleep, to no avail.


	9. Breaking Out Pt 3

A sound came from outside the group's cell, it woke Aaray up and she groaned. She blushed when she saw that she had fallen asleep with Timsin's arm around her. She got up, the cut in her shin giving her immense pain due to the weight being put on it. The Sith poison coursed through her veins and burned her, but she did her best to bear it. She grabbed the bars of the cell door and saw who was standing on the other side. "So it is you." she said. Sedyn Kyne stood in front of her, and if it wasn't for the metal separating them she would've clawed his eyes out. He stood tall and proud, and he still had the mohawk, only it was now graying. He looked exactly like how she last saw him only now his right eye was cybernetics. "Fa'athra heard about your little rivalry with Tarro, thought he might wanna buy ya. Luckily I answered the call instead of him." Sedyn taunted. "I see you're no better then how I left you, crying and broken, beat up by the bigger kid on the playground. Your fortunes haven't improved much." he sneered. "Worry about your own fortunes. Hell is calling your name." Aaray hissed. Sedyn chuckled. "Too bad you're all beat up. I was hoping to play with you just like I did with him."Aaray was about to shove the cell door down, he didn't need to say who he was talking about. "Don't you dare say his name you son of a bitch." she snapped. Sedyn laughed and reached his hand through one of the holes in the cell door to shake her hand before leaving. "Get familiar with the hand, because if you get outta here that's the hand that's gonna kill you, Azkon." Aaray reluctantly took his hand and shook it. The Zabrak pulled his hand towards herself and banged his head against the door. "Ow." Sedyn snapped, taking away his hand. "Heh, you're just punishing yourself babygirl." he turned towards the door. "Attacker!" he yelled. "She attacked!" Inquisitor Umbrith came in a moment later with a syringe full of that  
lovely black liquid. "Why you little bitch."the twi'lek snapped. Umbrith reached her arm into the cell just as Sedyn did, and grabbed Aaray by the wrist. Aaray resisted, grabbing some of the hay on the ground and throwing it at her. Umbrith spat out what had landed in her grabbed the vial and injected Aaray with more Sith poison. She then let Aaray go and the Zabrak's head hit the floor."That should teach her a lesson." she heard Sedyn say.  
The chemicals made her dizzy and knocked her out.

"Aaray, Aaray wake up." Tikara shook the Zabrak back and forth, and she eventually woke up. Aaray smirked when she saw it was the chiss who had woken her up. "Is this gonna become a habit of yours?" Tikara rolled her eyes and pulled Aaray up. They all still sat on the hay-covered ground. "So, what the hell do we do now?" Mako asked. Everybody shrugged. "How are your wounds?" Ekro asked her. Aaray shrugged. "I'll be fine in a day or two. Once we find a way out though you guys are leaving whether or not I'm okay. You leave me here and run, okay?" she ordered. "Not happening." Timsin stated. The rest of the group nodded. "Yes guys, end of story."

An hour passed, and nothing had happened except for a guard coming in occasionally to taunt them. The cell was silent and the group rarely said anything. A bang came, the sound was recognizable as the door to the torture room, and a moment later the door to the room with the cells opened, Rali coming through it. A pang of fear struck through Aaray and the others. "Hello, rats." the cyborg sneered. "I don't know why either of my masters let you live, you're all a bunch of rats and traitors." Timsin grabbed the cell doors, kneeling and forced a bitter laugh, sending pain through his body. "Yep, cause when you force people to work as slaves they'll definitely be faithful. And you're doing so much better than us, a teacher's pet to some Darth. If you think you're better then us than you got another thing comin' you dick." Rali returned the laugh and looked down at the bloody and tired man with the split lip and kicked him in the gut. Timsin fell back with a  
groan and Ekro slugged over to his side while Rali looked over them victoriously, his cybernetics glistening in the dim light. "You're all weaklings, remember that." He turned to the guard. "Give them the water." he told the guard with a smile on his lips. The guard nodded and took a water bottle out of his belt. He kneeled down and handed it to Tikara, who was closest. There was a slit in the guard's helmet for his eyes, and Tikara saw that is eyes were a blue-ish gray. She knew those eyes, yet couldn't for the life of her figure out where from. The Chiss took the bottle cautiously and watched the guard rise. Rali had a devious smirk on his face, and all 5 prisoners were confused why.  
They didn't find out the meaning behind it until about 10 minutes later. "Guys, we have to wash out your wounds they're getting bad." Tikara argued. As soon as Rali and the guard left, they had started arguing about how to use the water. Aaray and Ekro though to save it for emergency, Timsin just wanted to chug it down in a free-for-all, Tikara thought it would be wise to wash out their wounds and Mako thought they should ration it. After another ten minutes of arguing they gave up and came to no conclusion. They all knew what Rali's intention was now, but no one dared to say it. He and Umbrith were planning to put them through true torture, and this was only the beggining, they gave them something they needed but not enough. The two of them knew the group couldn't make a decision, and they enjoyed watching them struggle like rats in a trap. "We'll ration it. We'll struggle through with our wounds." Aaray concluded. No one argued. "It's getting cold  
guys, suit up." Ekro said. He tossed his orange jacket to Aaray, and Timsin tossed his vest to Tikara, Mako just snuggled up next to Ekro. Aaray looked herself up and down. They had never given the Zabrak clothes, she was still stuck in a bra and undergarments. Not that Tikara was doing much better, stuck in her slave girl uniform. "If I ever thought I was gonna be in a room with two women in bikinis, you certainly weren't there Ekro." Timsin joked. Aaray elbowed him in the gut. "Any more perverted jokes and I'll slip a little something in your share of the water Timsin." the Zabrak snapped. She felt Timsin laugh beside her. "I'll keep them to myself."  
"Toss me the water." Aaray ordered Tikara. The Chiss looked down at the water bottle and hesitated. "Tikara," Tikara twisted off the cap of the bottle, took a small sip, then twisted it back on and tossed it to Mako. The Cyborg imitated Tikara's actions, then gave it to Ekro and so on. The last to drink was Timsin, who began chugging it down greedily. "Timsin!" Mako snapped from across the room. Aaray grabbed the bottle from him and smacked him in the back of the head. "Bad dog!" she snapped. "Hey!" Timsin snarled, then smacked her back. "Guys, quit it." Ekro told them, then groaned. "You're gonna be the death of me, Tim." he muttered. Timsin glared at him. "Excuse me, but do you not see the situation we're currently in? I'm pretty sure the 'you're gonna be the death of me thing' goes a hundred different ways here brother."  
"Shut it, nobody's dying t'day." Tikara said angrily. "Yeah, today." Mako muttered.  
A jolt of fear went up all five of them when they heard the heavy metal door again. Inquisitor Umbrith walked up to the cell. "Fa'athra's decided we can't just let you sit here, so we're gonna allow you to partake in some more interesting...activities." the twi'lek cooed, her lips curving into a smile. She said it with such ease, and there was a sweetness in her voice, it was extremely deceiving. Her dark purple robes swayed back and forth as she stepped forward, and she enjoyed the sight of defeat in her eyes as she turned the key and the door opened with a creak. Aaray clinged to Timsin, clutching his hand. as much as she hated to admit it, she was scared. She knew she was gonna be the first to be taken. Umbrith walked into the cell, grabbed Tikara by the arm and dragged her out.  
Or not. thought Aaray. Tikara looked strangely calm, but if you looked deeper into her eyes you could see the fear bubbling inside of her. The Chiss pulled to get her arm back, but Umbrith dug her nails into her skin. "You come here." Umbrith ordered, eyeing Mako. Mako stood her ground. "NOW!" the twi'lek yelled. Mako sprung up and left the cell. "Take her to get some more...appropriate wear, Rimkin." Umbrith ordered the Rattaki guard at the door. Rimkin nodded and dragged Mako off to who-knows-where. "Your little friend here is gonna take your place as slave girl." Umbrith explained, eyeing Aaray. It would make sense, Mako wasn't again, neither was Tikara."So I'm going back to 'work' I take it?" Tikara asked sarcastically. "No, not at all." The Inquisitor replied, a smile playing on her lips. "You're a former Imperial Agent, we could use some information." Tikara groaned. "Rali will be back for you boys." the Sith told Timsin  
and Ekro, leaving Aaray wondering. She dragged Tikara off, but the Chiss wasn't going without a fight. "No." she snapped. Umbrith turned around, she wasn't expecting that response. "What did you say?" the twi'leks voice was smooth and silky, and so misleading. "I said No." Tikara snapped before punching her in the face. Umbrith groaned but snapped back. She chuckled and wiped the blood from her lip with her index finger. "You're going to regret that." the Sith raised her hands and purple lightning shot out of her fingers, knocking Tikara unconscious. Ekro rushed to her and was just about near Tikara's body when Umbrith took control and slammed him against the cell wall. Umbrith let him down and he fell to the ground. "Watch yourself, medic."

Rimkin opened the door to a dull gray room and shoved Mako inside. It had nothing in it but a chair, table and mirror. The guard threw Mako and green slave girl outfit. "Put it on, and take off that bloody headband." he ordered. "I don't understand, why would Fa'athra be interested in me as a slave girl?" Mako asked. "Your cybernetics connect to the holo, he's never seen that before." The Rattaki replied, bored, then went outside to stand guard. As soon as she heard the click of a shutting door  
Mako scattered to find something to use as a weapon. She looked around but saw nothing. Maybe the mirror - but the guard would hear the glass breaking. She went to the wooden table that was next to the chair. Mako tipped it over silently and began looking for screws.  
Once she found one she started trying to unscrew it with her nail, it hurt, but it worked. Her nail snapped off and flew onto the floor. "Crap." the cyborg muttered. she started using her thumbnail and a second later the screw fell to the ground with a klink. Mako was lucky enough to catch the table before it fell due to lack of support. She grabbed the loose leg and set down the table. She would open the door then smack Rimkin in the head, hopefully hard enough to make him go unconscious. What she would do afterwards was a mystery. Mako knocked on the door. "I'm ready." she called. She backed up. Rimkin came through and ducked just in time. He grabbed the block of wood, took it from her and threw it onto the floor before she could try again.  
"Why? Why would you EVEN try that?" he pushed her up against the nearest wall, strangling her. Mako kicked and tried to scream as he strangled her, but he had her tight. When he dropped her she tried to speak, but she couldn't, he had crushed her windpipe. Her throat was swollen and she was in immense pain. Before she had a moment to process this, Rimkin grabbed her by the head and shoved painkillers down her throat so she wouldn't whine. "You son of a bitch!" Mako wanted to yell. Her fear had faded a little once he told her it was just painkillers, but came back when he started grabbing her and unzipping her jacket. Mako kicked and pushed him off, only for him to grab the stick from the ground and knock her unconscious. Mako awoke sprawled on her stomach in heroutfit. She scattered when she felt Rimkin's finger go down her back. "Calm down bitch, I'm puttin' this on ya." he held up a headband. As if that made it any better. He pulled her up to her  
feet. Mako really wished he'd quit it. The Rattatki forced it on her then dragged her out to Fa'athra's main room. Rimkin picked her up and set her down in a sitting position next to a twi'lek slave girl, then put a chain around her necks and cuffed down her hands. "Just sit there and look pretty." Fa'athra ordered in huttese. Mako sighed mentally.

"Hello pets." Rali sneered. Aaray's inital reaction was to cling to Timsin, but resisted. Umbrith wouldn't notice but Rali would, and would only give him more fuel. "You two, take them." he ordered the two guards. The guards went into the cell to get the brothers. Timsin saw Aaray's face and kissed her temple. "It'll be okay." he whispered, knowing it probably wasn't true.  
Aaray went to respond but the guard dragged him away. The two of them dragged Ekro and Timsin out of the cell and into another room. "Bye doll face." Rali hissed, then followed the guards.  
Ekro and Timsin fell to the ground when they were pushed into the room. "Son of a bitch!" Ekro muttered, rubbing his arm as he rised. Timsin ran his hands through his sand colored hair to get it out of his face. Rali laughed. The room they entered was dimly lit, long, and the floors and walls were black. There was nothing in the room but two buckets with sponges in them. "So we're gonna clean?" Timsin whispered to his brother. Ekro shrugged. Rali walked towards the right wall, his footsteps echoing. He grabbed a little handle in the wall that revealed a closet built into the wall. He pulled out a whip made of leather, making the brother's eyes pop open.  
"You're g-gonna whip us?" Timsin stuttered.  
"No." Rali replied. He pulled out another leather whip. "You're going to whip each other." he added. "And why would we do that?" Ekro asked, just trying to stall. "Because if I don't get to see your blood, I get to see your friends. We still got the girls downstairs." the cyborg explained. "I'm not whipping my brother." Ekro stated simply. "Yes you will. Or your friends..." Rali dragged his finger across his throat as if it were a knife. "We're not going t-" Ekro clasped his hand over Timsin's mouth. Rali chuckled. "You girls go over things, I'll be right here." he said, whistling innocently. Ekro turned back to his brother. "We're going to have to do this Timsin, you know it. Just because you're my older brother doesn't mean you make this decision." he hissed. "I'm NOT doing it." Timsin stated plainly.  
"It's either us or the girls!"  
"Better them than us!"  
"We're not going to betray them!"  
"We barely know them Ekro!"  
"So that means it's alright to condemn them to death?" Timsin groaned. He knew his brother was right. He lifted his shirt over his head and threw it onto the floor. "Let's get this over with then."

Tikara woke to pain in her cheek. "Wake up." Umbrith snapped. Tikara went to rise from the chair she was sitting in but discovered she was restricted by chains at her arms, feet and waist. The Chiss looked around, her enviroment, it was a room stunningly similar to Mako's. "Nice place you got here, I take it you go to Better Homes & Dungeons too?" she asked sarcastically. Umbrith snickered. "You're gonna regret that." the twi'lek walked over to a drawer. It had several shelves, like what you would find in a hospital. She opened the third drawer and inside was styrofoam with shaped holes for tools. From what Tikara could see there was four tools in the drawer. Umbrith went over the tools in the drawer, humming and dragging her finger across the rim of the drawer. It frightened Tikara how she could be at such peace with what she did. "No," the twi'lek murmured. "No, no, Ah. Here we go." She stopped and pulled out a knife, long and thin on the end. She spun  
it around in her fingers then closed the drawer. Umbrith dragged the drawer behind her back to Tikara. The furniture squeaked across the floor and Tikara wanted to rub her ears to get rid of the feeling it gave her. It was short, so the Sith sat on it and was only slightly over eye level with Tikara. "Now, Cipher Seven, would you like to tell me about your mission and your partner?" Umbrith requested, as if she were a therapist and Tikara the patient. "I'm good, thanks." Tikara replied, trying to study her surroundings as subtly as possible. "Now now, don't be like that." the twi'lek pointed the knife at the Chiss. "See this here?"  
"What, your toothpick?" Umbrith chuckled again. "A toothpick bathed in the poison of Syix You know how deadly THAT is, don't you?" A shiver went up Tikara's spine, she did know about Syix. She'd use it for jobs, she'd load her sniper rifle with darts tipped with Syix to take out targets. It wasn't deadly enough to kill you alone, but she had added something extra into it for jobs. Umbrith saw the look on the Chiss's face. "Oh right, I forgot." she cooed, her tone obvious that she was just closing the trap."You screwed up, didn't you? Yes yes, we know about that. Your past was a little easier to find out then you thought." Tikara tried to jump out of her seat. "IT WASN'T MY FAULT!" she shouted. "Oh, but it was." Umbrith cooed. Tikara started to shout and started jumping in her chair, banging around. Umbrith scrambled, opened the second shelf of the drawer and pulled out a syringe, then plunged it into Tikara's neck. Tikara stopped banging around, feeling  
dizzy. A moment later she blacked out.

"Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine." Bayze reassured his sister. "I know, I know, just pre-finish jitters I guess." Tikara shook her head and picked up the skirt of her dress, this damn thing was killing her. Bayze laughed and gripped her hand. "It'll all be over in a couple hours." he pulled back the cape of his outfit, revealing a blaster. "We'll be back at Intelligence soon." Tikara looked up at the smiling man, his brown eyes shining. She knew his eyes weren't really brown though, but a bright red. His hair  
not really black, but a dark blue; and his skin not the perfect tan it was now but a a light blue.  
These human disguises worked well, it got them accepted and respected into the Alderaanian society, but Tikara yearned to get back into her chiss appearance. On top of that she was covered in makeup, with her lips painted red along with eyeliner, blush and eyeshadow. She had her hair styled the same way but now it was orange, and her eyes were green. Getting out of this disguise and back to the appearance of a Chiss was one of the reasons she was so excited to finish this mission. Bayze opened the door to the Alderaanian nobles house and she walked in. It was decorated from the ceiling to the floor with banners, precious metals and war trophies they probably bought from a vendor. They walked down the red runner that led into the main room. Tikara looked up at the porcilein walls, which were highly decorated with [precious metals and paintings and everything in between. The Agent didn't understand why anyone would spend so much money on something like  
that when they could spend it on something more practical or useful.  
Bayze snapped his finger in front of her face to get her attention back to where it needed to be. Tikara forced herself back into reality. He was right. She had to focus right now or she would blow her cover and the operation would fail. She took a deep breath and when she exhaled she had become who she needed to be. Esperte Dalmi. Alderaanian noble. High-class citizen. On her way with her brother Dow to attend a party thrown by Skrim Dowl and his wife Daphida. Tikara picked up her pace, her steps high and determined. She'd been doing this for years, and she knew by now to go undercover tou had to change everything about yourself, from the way you walk to the grammar you use. But you had to make sure it wasn't obvious. She was used to it, becoming a different person. Once she had to go undercover for eighteen months to take down a major crime syndicate on Nar Shadaa. Afterwards it took her awhile to figure out who she was again.  
They reached the main room, which was exaggeratedly decorated. Daphida and Skrim were talking to each other near a tall floor plant. Bayze and Tikara approached them. Tikara and Daphida blew air kisses, Bayze and Skrim shook hands."Dow, Esperte, so good to see you." Daphida proclaimed, her hands on Tikara;s upper arms. "The woman had obviously had cosmetic work done, as her face was stiffer and slightly younger looking then the average forty-two year old. Her brown hair was tied up in a bun and her light blue eyes stood out less with all the lipstick and mascara she was wearing. Her husband however, was four years older then her and looked his age. His moss-colored brown hair was slicked back and graying, as well as his goatee. "We're so glad you came." Skrim said. "And we're glad to be here." Bayze replied, smiling. Tikara took a wine off of the table and took a sip, staining her teeth red interlocked her arm with Tikara's and led  
her off into the party.  
"So Esperte, how have you been?"she asked, continuing to walk. "Quite good, and you?" Tikara replied. "Just fine." she replied. They passed another noble who was chatting at a table and she winked at him. Tikara rolled her eyes. From what Intelligence could pick up, she was cheating on Skrim and Skrim was cheating on her, but even though they both knew about each other they were able to keep up their wasn't all Intelligence was able to pick up either. Their servants were paid so low they were more like slaves, Skrim couldn't last a day without having one of his precious imported cigars, and Daphida needed everything to be perfect no matter what was happening or she would blow her top. "To a great party." Tikara said, they then toasted their wine glasses.

"So Dow, did you see the golf game last night?" Skrim asked. Bayze turned and faked a smile. "Unfortunately no," he began. I was too busy planning your death. he thought."how did it end up?" A few minutes passed of Skrim talking about who screwed up what and who got a hole in one and what player used what club. Bayze just kept nodding with the occasional look of dissaproval. He was saved by Tikara coming back with Daphida. "So Tikara, how have things been with you? Rumor is you fancy someone around here." Skrim commented, winking at her. Tikara choked on her wine. Son of a Bitch. she thought, trying to collect herself. "No Skrim, I do not 'fancy' anyone." she stated. Gossiping Fuckers. She had expected gossip about her, didn't mean she had to like it. She handed her wine to Bayze. "I need to go to the bathroom." she turned and nodded subtly to Bayze on the way out. Once she heard them start talking again she picked up her skirt and started jogging to  
the exit.

She made a turn in the hallway and found what she was looking for. After checking to see if the coast was clear she pulled away a wall panel and pulled out her sniper rifle, then put it back in. She smiled at the weapon and strapped it around her back. Every house in Alderaan had little ledges on the walls of their houses, she wasn't sure why, but she figured it was a fashion statement. She figured she might as well use them to her advantage and started climbing up them to get to the vent near the top. She almost tripped on her dress but caught herself just in time. "I'm gonna fucking burn this thing when we're done." Tikara muttered, continuing to climb. Once she reached the vent she slowly started detaching the cover, but once she did it slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. "Dammit." she hissed to herself, then pushed her rifle in front of her and hurried through.  
Thankfully she didn't have to take any turns to get where she needed to be. It was a large and spacious vent, plenty of room for her and the weapon but it was still uncomfortable. She got where she needed to be and detached the vent cover, but this one slipped as well. To her relief it fell into a plant and barely made a sound. She sighed in relief and positioned her rifle so it stuck out of the vent. It was unlikely anyone would see her, the vent was up high and covered with tall plants. She put her eye into the scope and started looking for Daphida and Skrim. She spotted them and aimed it, taking a moment and clasping her fingers around the rifle tighter. This was where it was do or die. She would kill them and then go back there and pretend to be shocked, no one would suspect the wiser; or she would blow it and probably get killed by Intelligence. She saw  
Bayze was being cautious, which was good. She had never learned how to miss, but it wouldn't help if he had been in the way. Her rifle was already loaded, bullets tipped with Syix and a little extra to make sure it would kill on contact. She took a deep breath and reached her finger to the trigger, aiming it carefully for Skrim first. She saw him talking to Bayze, and Daphida a few feet away sipping on her wine. "Esperte's been away for awhile." she heard Skrim comment. "Don't worry, she'll be back soon." lied Bayze. She had her finger slowly pulling the trigger when she heard Skrim. "I better go look for her." he said, then walked off. Tikara wanted to pull the gun back and wait for him to come back but it was too late. The bullet flew into the air at the speed of a fighter jet and landed into Bayze's neck. She had finally learned how to miss.  
Fear rose up into Tikara, and she almost yelled out for him, but resisted due to years of training. She shuffled back into the vent quickly, leaving her rifle behind in her panic. Once she got up she jumped onto the ground. She yelped in pain when she landed, as she was still wearing heels when she jumped down so her ankle had twisted. There was a tear in her dress now and she was limping but she doubted they would notice considering the screaming she heard from Daphida when Bayze fell to the floor. The scream she caused. The scream she wanted to give. She started half-running into the room, pain shooting up her ankle. When she reached the room she made a shocked face that was only half-fake. "Wh-what happened?" she yelped, the words burning like acid in her throat. "I-I don't know, I found a dart in his neck after he fell." Daphida explained, handing her a dart. Tikara dismissed it and checked his pulse, which was gone. She didn't know why she checked,  
a sign of desperation maybe. she mixed that poison herself and new that if you got hit in the neck with it you were a wasn't happening. It wasn't. He was going to be okay. Don't lie to yourself. she thought. Tears ran down her face, ruining her mascara. She heard Daphida yell for Skrim, but it sounded distant. Daphida kneeled down next to her and started giving her words of sympathy, swearing they would find who did this. But all the words blurred out along with the sight of her. Everything was fuzzy except for Bayze's body lying lifeless on the ground. Somehow the disguise hadn't worn off when he died. She heard Skrim run over to her and heard Daphida crying and she snapped back into reality. She had to run or she'd get killed by Intelligence. She forced herself to tear away from her brother's body and ran as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast considering her ankle, but fast enough to get out of the building. she needed a new name.  
New life. Had to make herself untraceable by Intelligence."Wake up." Umbrith hissed, seeing Tikara open her eyes. The twi'lek took a syringe from the drawer and walked out, leaving the Chiss.  
Umbrith smiled as she heard Tikara yell and make sounds of desperation during her dream. The Sith went back to the drawer full of tools and got out another syringe, gripping it in her hand and leaving the room.

Ekro gripped the leather whip tight in his hand. How had this happened? "Let's go girls." Rali snapped, growing impatient. Ekro swallowed his pride and looked up at Timsin, he could tell he was thinking the same thing. His brother's eyes were accepting, but depressed all the same. Ekro shivered slightly, not just because of fear but they were both shirtless for the whipping. Timsin had turned, but he couldn't whip him. It's either a little pain or the girl's lives. he thought. The medic kept telling himself that but  
Timsin's words kept flashing in his mind. Better them than us. Timsin was his brother and he wasn't going to almost kill him for some strangers. He opened his mouth to say Go ahead. Go ahead and kill the girls I'm not whipping my own flesh and blood. Rali cut him off by grabbing the whip out of his hand and rolling his eyes. "Here, I'll get you started." he said innocently. The cyborg raised the whip and striked Timsin without hesitation. Timsin screamed and fell to his knees, blood streaming down the gash in his back. Ekro ran over to him to see if it would scar, see if it would be treatable. Halfway there Rali whipped him as well. He yelled in pain and fell to his knees. "Are you going to be good now?" Rali added, throwing the whip at Timsin's feet. "Get up!" the Sith-trainee yelled, kicking Timsin in the face. The mechanic groaned and looked up at Rali, his face and hair now bloody. He slowly got up to his knees, not losing eye contact.  
"Now, since the two of you SHOULD be incapable of raising your arms after awhile, I have this little device to help out." Rali turned back to the hidden closet and pulled out a metal device, which looked oddly larger once he unfolded it. He placed a whip in a slot at each end of it. Ekro looked up at it, intimidated. It had an almost skeletal look to it. A remote was tossed at each of the brother's feet. "When you press the button, it will whip the other." he explained. He raised his hand and he dragged them to the walls gently, wanting to save the pain for the whipping. Timsin fought against his force powers but Ekro knew it would be no use. Chains that were hanging from the walls came up and wrapped around their wrists so they were facing the wall, the remotes still in their hand. Timsin sighed. "Ekro?" he called out. "Yeah?" called Ekro. "You uh...?"  
"Yep."  
"You first." Rali ordered Ekro.. Ekro hesitated, his thumb brushing over the button and biting his lip before pressing it. Timsin screamed again and breathed heavily as he felt blood run down his back. Tears from pain fell down his face, and he was glad Ekro had his back to him. He wouldn't let his little brother see him cry. Timsin knew it was his turn now. He gritted his teeth and pressed the button, closing his eyes. Ekro groaned loudly and hissed through shut teeth when he felt the whip slash through his skin again. It happened again and again, sending searing pain through the other's back. The pain lessened with time, but barely. One slashed across Timsin's back sideways and he yelled. The brother's didn't need to see each others faces to know what Umbrith, Fa'athra and Rali really wanted to do. They weren't just going to hurt them on a physical level, but an emotional one as well. It was knowing that your brother, even though forced, did this to  
you, put you through this pain. They both knew afterwards they would comfort each other, tell each other it was all over and they couldn't get hurt by those people anymore, it would still always be that dark little seed stuck in the back of your mind. Ekro had been whipping thirteen times by the time it was over. Timsin was whipped fourteen times. Rali broke the chains and they fell to the floor, reenacting the pain in their backs.

"Come on over here girlie." Aaray heard a voice. She looked up and saw Umbrith standing in the cell door. "Good to see ya." Aaray muttered. She didn't care at this point. Sith poison was still burning through her veins, she had cuts all over herself and even if she did get out Nem'ro would be on her to mention her friends were probably dead. Umbrith's brows furrowed but she kept her focus. She grabbed Aaray's wrist and pulled her out.  
The Zabrak was taken into an oddly normal room, there was a table with two metal chairs, which Aaray was ushered into. Umbrith sat in the one across from her. "Now, what do you know about Nem'ro?" she asked calmly. Aaray looked around the room she was in before answering her. "How does any information about Nem'ro benefit YOU?" she snapped. "If I get information about Nem'ro, Fa'athra is happy. If Fa'athra is happy, I am allowed to continue training Rali. If I continue training Rali, I gain more respect at the academy. You see these?" the twi'lek said, then ran her finger down her lime green lekku. "They make people think I'm weak. Not that I can blame them, I mean, most of my species is I ran through my trials and killed MY master. Yet somehow that still isn't enough, apparently, I'm still weak. They're wrong." she explained. Aaray rolled her eyes. "Wonderful story. Can we please get on with this now?" she replied harshly. If Umbrith was  
going to kill her she wished she'd get on with it. She wasn't suicidal but she knew she was in no shape to fight back. "I don't know anything so if you're going to kill me get on with it." the Zabrak added. Umbrith's calm expression dropped, she grabbed Aaray by her shirt and dragged her towards a white door. Aaray was tossed into the room and hit the floor with a groan. She looked up but the only thing she saw was a flash of Umbrith's iris colored robe as she shut the door.  
She got up from the floor, pushing herself up. She looked around the room, it was white and made of brick, with nothing in it but a flat mattress on the ground. She was about to call out but was cut off by a loud ringing. Aaray groaned loudly and covered her ears, not that it helped. It hurt her head and started to give her a headache barely after it started. When it stopped it felt like it went on for hours, but it was only a few minutes. Aaray let her arms give in and she fell to her knees, catching herself with her hand. Her palm dug into the sharp rocking floor, pricking her in a few spots. It felt as if her skull was throbbing and her migraine intensified. Before she could react the door flung open again and Umbrith took her out.  
She was flung in the chair again much to her despair. "Tell me what you know or you can go through that again." Umbrith hissed, looming over her. Aaray could barely hear her due to the ringing in her ears. "What?" . Umbrith backed away from her and started pacing. "Three years ago you worked for Nem'ro closely, picking out bounties you would send out for the public to handle and which you would take yourself. Keeping the hardest ones for the best I assume. This lasted for quite awhile so you must know something." Aaray was able to piece together what she was saying. She wasn't sure how Umbrith found out about that, but she honestly didn't know anything. She'd go in, talk about what bounties she'd take and then she'd go out, kill them and get paid. Same arrangement they had now.  
Which is exactly what she told Umbrith. Umbrith snapped and pulled out a syringe from her pocket, grabbing Aaray's arm and plunging it into her before she could react. Aaray immediately wanted to panic, thinking it was more Sith poison. "What did you-" Aaray cut off her panic whens he felt nothing but dizziness. "There's only so many ways to torture you. But there are so many more ways for you to torture yourself. by going to the places you never wanted to see again " the twi'lek hissed. The Inquisitor smiled and brought her back into the white room, slamming the door behind her. Aaray froze, flashed with panic and fear. She didn't know what was in the syringe, and she dreaded finding out. She expected the alarm to start again, but nothing happened.  
She started pacing around the room, waiting for something to happen or a sudden pain. The Zabrak sat down on the flat mattress and pulled her knees up to her chest.  
Not knowing when or what was going on was worse then it actually happening for her.  
Aaray was about to break but the room started to shift and change. The walls changed shape and turned leafy, the floor turned swampy and grassy. The air felt thicker and more humid. She shielded her eyes from the bright light of two suns shining through the forest trees, looking around. Trees grew around her and she heard growls of rakghouls and tweets of birds nearby. She found that she herself was leaning against a tree. A shadow loomed over her and she looked up, seeing an arm outstretched to her. "Get up Aaray, I thought you wanted to hunt?" said the man. He must've thought she was much shorter then she was, because his hand was almost in her face. Aaray took the hand and he pulled her up, and she felt even more confused when she saw his dark-red skinned face. "Dad?"


End file.
